Jerry Seinfeld tried to get Chris Rock to reference his Oscar slap for the Pop-Tarts movie

Seinfeld says Rock was "a little shook" from the incident, which happened shortly before Unfrosted began filming

By William Hughes  |  May 10, 2024 | 12:01am
Aux News Chris Rock
Jerry Seinfeld tried to get Chris Rock to reference his Oscar slap for the Pop-Tarts movie
Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock Photo: Peter Foley/EPA

Jerry Seinfeld’s directorial debut Unfrosted is already filled with many of Seinfeld’s various famous friends—all of whom apparently shrugged and said “Eh, it’s Seinfeld, how bad could it be?” when he tapped them to appear in a fictionalized story about the creation of the Pop-Tart. But one notable Seinfeld ally is missing from the film’s star-studded roster: His old pal Chris Rock, who was apparently set to be in the film, in a scene Seinfeld said would have directly referenced Rock’s infamous slap from the 2022 Oscars.

Seinfeld revealed that he made this particular ask of his long-time friend on an installment of David Spade and Dana Carvey’s Fly On The Wall podcast, saying that the original pitch was for Rock to play the emcee of the fictional Bowl & Spoon Awards, who’d be accosted on stage, and then deck the interloper. Seinfeld didn’t make it clear whether Rock specifically objected to the joke, saying that he was simply “a little shook from that event”—i.e., Will Smith slapping him on live TV—and so ended up not being involved in the project. (Cedric The Entertainer took on the role instead, and the part was filmed without any references to the slap.)

Interestingly, Seinfeld—who has a pretty good conversation with Spade and Carvey across the 90-minute podcast, getting into the minutiae of doing comedy on a nationally recognized level—whether they thought the basic concept would have worked for the movie. When Carvey pushes back a bit, saying that there’s “still kind of a residual darkness around that moment,” Seinfeld fires back with, “Isn’t that we’re attracted to more than anything, residual darkness?” before conceding that he’s not sure the gag would have worked, presumably having to content himself with the other 6,000 or so jokes in the film.

[via Variety]

 
Join the discussion...