As Jerrod Carmichael made his debut onSaturday Night Live, he and the cast couldn’t help but poke fun atWill SmithandChris Rock.
The 34-year-old stand-up comedian parodied the incident involving Will, 53, and Rock, 57, at the 94thAcademy Awardsnumerous times throughout his hosting gig on Saturday evening, which featured rappers Gunna and Future as musical guests.
Duringone sketch, Carmichael appeared as a seat filler at the 2022 Oscars, where he conversed withChris Redd’s Will leading up to and immediately after the incident where theKing Richardstar slapped Rock following his joke made aboutJada Pinkett Smith’s hair.
Rock previously appeared as a cast member onSNLfrom 1990 to 1993. He has hosted the show three times between 1996 and 2020.
Saturday Night Live/Youtube
Additionally, further mentions of the slap were sprinkled throughout the episode at various moments.
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During the show’scold open, James Austin Johnson portrayedDonald Trumpduring a parody of Fox News’Fox & Friends, where the former president addressed the slap and referred to Will as “Hitch.”
“I did see [the] slap. I enjoyed [the] slap. I was very impressed with my Hitch,” he said. “Quite an arm on Hitch. I always knew Hitch had an arm.”
Right after the cold open, Carmichael then appeared onstage, where he addressed the slap in hisopening monologue.
“I’m not going to talk about it,” Carmichael began, without even having to address what “it” meant. “I want to be clear up top. I talked about it enough. Kept talking about it. Kept thinking about it. I don’t want to talk about it. And you can’t make me talk about it.”
Carmichael then reminded the in-studio crowd and viewers at home how the slap only happened six days ago, despite feeling “like it happened years ago.”
The real Simpson, 74, previously addressed the slap in apost on Twitter, where he said the situation “was unfortunate,” adding, “I think Will was wrong.”
Colin Jost, who is married to actressScarlett Johansson, said that the slap “was a disgraceful act that sets a terrible precedent for having to defend your wife at awards shows.”
Carmichael’sSNLhosting gig came about one day after therelease of his new HBO special,Rothaniel, which includes stories from his family history — including one of how he learned that his father was unfaithful in his marriage.
Duringthe February showat Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City, Carmichael alsocame out as gay.
“After that was out in the open, I was left alone feeling like a liar, because I had a secret,” the comedian said in the special. “One that I kept from my father, my mother, my family, my friends, and you. Professionally, personally. And the secret is that I’m gay.”
After the audience applauded, Carmichael said, “I’m accepting the love, I really appreciate the love. My ego wants to rebel against it,” adding that he had “rebelled against it my whole life.”
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The comedian continued, “I never thought I’d come out. I didn’t think I’d ever, ever, ever come out. Probably at many points I thought I’d rather die than confront the truth of that, to actually say it to people. Because I know it changes people’s — some people — it changes their perception of me. I can’t control that.”
On next week’s episode ofSNL,Jake GyllenhaalandCamila Cabellowill take the stage as host and musical guest, respectively. Both Gyllenhaal, 41, and Cabello, 25, have appeared on the show once before.
source: people.com
