His world was too rocked.
During a recent interview on the “Fly on the Wall” podcast with Dana Carvey and David Spade, Jerry Seinfeld said that in his directorial debut “Unfrosted” (now streaming on Netflix), he wanted Chris Rock to do a parody of the infamous Will Smith Oscars slap from the 2022 ceremony.
“The other thing I wanted to do that I almost did was Chris Rock was going to be the emcee of the Bowl & Spoon Awards — and we shot that right after the Will Smith slap,” Seinfeld explained, referring to a scene in “Unfrosted.”
“I was going to have somebody come up on the stage and have Chris punch ’em out as they got there.”
But, Seinfeld added that so soon after the event, Rock “wasn’t up to perform.”
Following the infamous moment when Smith slapped Rock at the live broadcast, Rock laid low from the limelight for a while, and Smith was banned from the Oscars for 10 years.
When Smith slapped Rock, Smith had been ostensibly defending his wife’s honor after Rock made a joke at her expense.
But since then, Jada Pinkett Smith has also admitted that the couple was secretly separated at the time.
“Unfrosted” is a comedy about the creation of Pop-Tarts. Set in 1963, it’s about the rivalry between cereal companies Kellogg’s and Post as they compete to be the first one to hit the market with the breakfast treat.
Seinfeld stars in the movie opposite Melissa McCarthy, Max Greenfield, Hugh Grant, Amy Schumer and Jack McBrayer.
In the movie, Cedric the Entertainer plays Stu Smiley, who is hosting the Bowl & Spoon Awards — honoring the best in breakfast.
From Seinfeld’s explanation, he seemed to have originally planned for the role to be Rock.
In “Unfrosted,” Stu Smiley as played by Cedrick the Entertainer doesn’t get into a physical fight.
“He was a little shook from that event,” Seinfeld said, referring to Rock.
“That was what that scene was going to be, but Cedric saved the day. I love Cedric.”
Rock has also recovered from being “shook,” as he viciously took aim at Smith during his 2023 Netflix stand up special.
“I rooted for Will Smith my whole life,” he told a packed theater in February 2023. But now, Rock added, he’s hate-watching Smith’s movie “Emancipation” in which he plays a tortured, escaped slave.
“The other day, I watched ‘Emancipation’ just so I could watch him getting whipped.”
About the planned slap parody, Seinfeld said, “I don’t know if it would have worked. It was an idea.”
