Celebrity5 min(s) read
Published 16:42 13 Dec 2022 GMT
People are praising Will Ferrell after he shut down a heckler during Octavia Spencer's induction into the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
On December 8, Ferrell was on hand to share a speech dedicated to the 52-year-old actress - but it was interrupted when a random man on the street started shouting in the middle of it.
The LA Times reported that the stranger shouted something about "celebrating rich people" as the ceremony took place.
The Elf actor was not here for anyone ruining his Spirited co-star's day, however, and soon shut him down.
"Not on Octavia’s day!", he shouted as Spencer tried to shoo the man along. "Keep it moving. Keep it moving. The wax museum’s down there. That thing is wide open."
But the man wasn't going to give up so easily and kept shouting during his speech.
"He’s got powerful lungs. He’s using his diaphragm," Ferrell joked, as members of the audience broke out in chuckles. "Louder, please. They can’t hear you in Alhambra."
Then, as he prepared to step down after hailing Spencer as "literally the best", he added: "Is that guy up next? Is he supposed to speak? Sweatpants weirdo, is he up here?
"Should I just go tackle him?" He joked.
Thankfully the next speaker was actually Allison Janney, a friend of Spencer’s who muttered: "I’m so glad that gentleman has gone," as she got up on stage to deliver her speech.
It was recently announced that Spencer would be honored with a coveted star on the iconic strip in Hollywood, which comes as no surprise thanks to her incredible performances in movies like Zootopia, Ma, and Hidden Figures.
When asked about the incredible privilege, she told Variety that she was left speechless when she first heard the news.
"How do you respond to that?”, Spencer said. "To know that you will forever be a part of the mythology of this town. It was a rare moment where I just couldn’t think of anything to say."
She continued: "It’s a place where you can actually see that bygone era of stars who are no longer with it. And you can actually reach out and touch their star.
"It can make it feel attainable to people. It’s just a rare and huge honor," the Snowpiercer star added.
As per the outlet, Spencer started her career almost 25 years ago when she drove out to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of being an actor and since then she's starred in several box-office hits.
Sandra Bullock, a fellow actress and long-time friend of Spencer's, described the 52-year-old as a "good human."
The pair first worked together during Spencer's debut film in 1996’s A Time to Kill, where she played Bullock's nurse.
"She’s a real human. A good human. A safe human," Bullock said. "A person who comes into the room with such integrity and a joy for life that it makes you want to try harder at everything... because she is!"
She also added that Spencer had a special energy that would just draw everyone to her.
"Anyone who meets Octavia remembers the exact time they met her," added Bullock. "At the time she was a P.A. Like a moth to the flame, all of us would just migrate to where she was and we would want to just stay there. When we were in search for someone to play the nurse in one of the last scenes, Joel Schumacher and I squealed 'Octavia!' Just another opportunity to be in her presence!"
Congratulations to Spencer on her Walk of Fame star; it truly is well-deserved!
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uncategorised3 min(s) read
Published 11:54 22 Jan 2018 GMT
celebrity2 min(s) read
Published 13:12 01 Apr 2022 GMT
Chris Rock has stopped fans from cursing Will Smith during one of his comedy shows.
Rock took to the stage at The Wilbur in Boston on Thursday night, just days after the 57-year-old was caught up in the center of a media storm since the Men in Black star slapped him on stage at Sunday night's Academy Awards.
Unsurprisingly, Rock kicked things off by addressing the scandalous moment. According to People, he was then interrupted by a fan, who wanted to make it clear whose side he was on.
"F*** Will Smith!" the fan shouted from the audience.
However, Rock quickly put an end to the verbal assault. "No, no, no, no, no..." he reportedly said to the crowd member.
Rock has every reason to be annoyed at the King Richard star. During Sunday's Academy Awards, the comedian poked fun at Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith while preparing to deliver the award for Best Documentary.
In reference to Pinkett Smith's closely shaven head, Rock joked that she might be set to appear in the next G.I. Jane movie. Pinkett Smith - who suffers from alopecia - did not take kindly to the joke, rolling her eyes. Moments later, her husband could be seen marching across the stage towards Rock, who he slapped across the face.
As Smith returned to his seat, the comedian tried to laugh off what had happened. However, Smith was having none of it, and only made things more awkward by yelling at Rock from his seat: "Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth!"
The jaw-dropping moment was broadcast live around the world, and was only made more shocking when - less than half an hour later - Smith was back on stage to accept the Academy Award for Best Actor.
This is not the first time Rock has spoken out about his infamous altercation with Smith. The previous evening (Wednesday, March 30) he broke his silence on Sunday night's scandalous Academy Awards during two stand-up gigs, also at The Wilbur.
The New York Post reports that Rock began Wednesday's show by jokingly asking his audience: "How was your weekend?"
"I don’t have a bunch of s*** about what happened," he said with regards to the incident over the weekend. "I had like a whole show I wrote before this weekend. I’m still kinda processing what happened. So at some point, I’ll talk about that s***," he added.
He also told the crowd: "I haven't talked to anyone, despite what you heard," referencing rumors that Rock and Smith had made amends.
celebrity3 min(s) read
Published 12:46 21 Mar 2023 GMT
Chris Rock has revealed that he apparently had a lot more to say in his recent Netflix special... if that was even possible!
The 58-year-old made his comic comeback a year after he was involved in an awkward and widely-mocked moment at last year's Oscars, when Will Smith, 53, stormed onto the stage as Rock was presenting and slapped him across the face.
At that time, Rock had made a joke referencing Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and likened her baldness (a result of alopecia) to G. I. Jane - a 1997 movie starring Demi Moore as a female lieutenant who enters the Navy SEALS. Moore had shaven her head for that role.
"Keep my wife's name out your f**king mouth," Smith screamed from his table after the slap. His violent outburst earned him a decade-long ban from the Oscars as well as a lifetime of becoming the butt of jokes - including Rock's new comedy special Selective Outrage.
Smith has since apologized to Rock, both in the form of an Instagram post the day after the incident and a public apology to everyone in general via YouTube a while later.
"Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night's Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada's medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally," Smith said.
"I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness," he added.
Then, after waiting a whole year, Rock finally retaliated in his comedy special - hitting out at Smith and hinting that he had been violent because he was battling his own internal emotions following Pinkett Smith's "entanglement" drama.
"For people that don’t know, well everybody knows, but Will Smith's wife was f***ing her son's friend. Okay? I normally would not talk about this s**t, but, for some reason, they put it on the internet," Rock said in his special. He was, of course, referencing the 2020 episode of Red Table Talk when Jada and Will discussed her "entanglement" with rapper August Alsina.
Rock also poked fun of numerous other celebrities, including Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. However, he has revealed that there were some jokes that had to be removed - like a joke where Rock likened the Oscars slap to Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul, who was brutally attacked with a hammer during a burglary at his home in October 2022.
Pelosi, 82, was left with a fractured skull, having woken up from the ordeal in a pool of his own blood, NPR reported.
According to The Independent, Rock made the revelation while on stage at the 24th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday (March 19), celebrating this year's honoree Adam Sandler.
He told the crowd he would be sharing a few jokes that were omitted from his Netflix special.
The funnyman then shared the delicate gag about Pelosi, describing him as "the only guy who knows how I felt [...] Just me and you, Paul."
Rock's comedy special Selective Outrage is available to view on Netflix.
celebrity6 min(s) read
Published 11:27 09 Mar 2023 GMT
It has been reported that Will Smith has been left "embarrassed and hurt" following the news of Chris Rock's Netflix special.
Rock, who has recently been making headlines for his latest comedy special, hit out at the 54-year-old actor almost exactly a year after the controversial Oscars slap.
Back in March 2022, viewers were left speechless as they watched Smith storm the stage at the 94th Academy Awards after the 58-year-old comedian cracked a few jokes about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Not only did he physically attack Rock, but he also shouted "keep my wife's name out your f****** mouth", much to the shock of those in attendance, as well as viewers at home.
But it looks like the comedian got his own back via his Netflix special.
During the show, he said: "Will Smith practices selective outrage. Everybody really knows I had nothing to do with that s***. I didn't have any 'entanglements.'"
Rock said during the special that "everybody in the world" called Will a "b****" after the news broke of Pinkett Smith's "entanglement" with another man, and added that he tried to reach out to him about it but claimed he didn't pick up.
The comedian then went on to repeatedly refer to Smith as a "b****."
He then joked: "Everybody. And who's he hit? Me, a n**** he knows he can beat. That is some b****-a** s***."
Prior to the show's debut, he also managed to sneak another few low blows while testing out some of his new material - some of which landed well with the live audience, while others, not so much.
Talking to a packed venue at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theater, the Death at a Funeral star spoke of the controversial incident saying: "Will Smith practices selective outrage. People who are in the know, know that s*** had nothing to do with me."
He continued: "The thing people wanna know... did it hurt? Hell yeah it hurt," he was quoted as saying at one gig as per the HuffPost. "He played Muhammad Ali! I played Pookie [his role in New Jack City]. Even in animated movies, I’m a zebra, he’s a f****** shark. I got hit so hard, I heard 'Summertime' ringing in my ears."
According to the New York Post, at a different event, Rock also joked that he watched Smith's new movie Emancipation just so he could watch the actor "getting whipped."
"I rooted for Will Smith my whole life," he told the audience. But Rock then told fans that he's "hate-watching" Smith’s latest movie, in which he plays a tortured, escaped slave.
"The other day, I watched Emancipation just so I could watch him getting whipped."
While the taunt was supposed to be a joke, it didn't sit entirely well with everyone given the sensitive nature of the film but thankfully, that one didn't make the cut during his Netflix ride.
Elsewhere, he also jibed further at Pinkett Smith's alleged "affair" with rapper August Alsina.
"His wife was f****** her son’s friend," Rock said on Saturday, March 4. "Now, I normally would not talk about this s***. But for some reason [they] put that s*** on the internet... We [have] all been cheated on. Everybody in here’s been cheated on.
"None of us have ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us on television."
He added: "She hurt him way more than he hurt me, OK?"
It seems as though Rock has well and truly won this battle as it has been reported that Smith has been left "hurt and embarrassed" by the content.
A source told Entertainment Weekly that while the actor didn't watch the show himself, he heard about the jokes through word of mouth.
"Will is embarrassed and hurt by what Chris said about him and his family in his Netflix special. He didn’t watch it, but he had people tell him what Chris said. It’s everywhere when you look online and on social media, so Will and Jada have seen comments about it."
The source also told the outlet that Smith is "upset" that Netflix gave Rock "this platform" to express his views.
"Will is also upset that Netflix was a part of this and thinks Chris insulting Jada again is below the belt," the source added. "He is upset that Netflix gave Chris this platform to share these messages and thinks it’s distasteful."
Another source who spoke of Rock's side of the story revealed that the comedian is now ready to move on.
"He said everything he wanted to say," the source told ET. "It was funny, self-deprecating, and thought-provoking. Chris is ready to move on."
Selective Outrage is available to watch on Netflix.
uncategorised3 min(s) read
Published 17:21 28 Nov 2017 GMT
