At the very end of Chris Rock's live Netflix special "Selective Outrage," Rock tried to explain why he didn't deck Will Smith the night of the infamous Oscar slap.
"I got parents." Rock yelled, capping off a frenetic, hour-long performance at Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre Saturday night. "And you know what my parents taught me: Don't fight in front of white people."
This mic drop — or self-hate nonsense — disappointed me. At a time when Black people are freely centering our needs and feelings over the thoughts of white people, the closing punchline was tone deaf. Rock, at his highly-anticipated concert special, prioritizing the reactions of white people over his own pain.
