It has been almost two and a half years since Will Smith slapped Chris Rock live on television on the Oscars 2022 stage. The moment quickly went viral all around the world and the Academy Awards administration was quick to ban Will Smith from the stage for 10 years. Looking at the after-effects of the slap incident, Joe Rogan and Adam Sandler believe that Smith kind of destroyed his image beyond repair with it.

The mul͏ti-million d͏ollar podc͏aster recen͏t͏l͏y inv͏ited fa͏mou͏s act͏or, comedian, ͏an͏d p͏roducer Adam Sandler on ep͏isode͏ #218͏7 of “͏JRE” to discu͏ss the happenings in the entertainme͏nt world. During their convers͏ation, they ͏also delv͏ed into ͏a discussion about Will Smith’s͏ career following the 2022 Osc͏ars.

Joe Rogan and Adam Sandler discuss Will Smith’s career after slapping Chris Rock

Joe Rogan in his recent conversation with Adam Sandler highlighted the fact that the world would never look at Will Smith the same way they looked at him previously, “It was almost like a guy who doesn’t know how normal people act, thinking this is what you’re supposed to do: go smack that guy.” Adam Sandler chimed in to give his own opinion, “It got it, became fu**ing just went to a place that he couldn’t get out of.”

The Joe Rogan Experience host further added that Will Smith will have to live with the constant criticism, “And still, he’s still there in everybody’s mind. When you see Will Smith, you think, “Oh, he slapped Chris Rock.” Not “I Am Legend,” not “Muhammad Ali,” not his insanely good movies. The guy’s an incredible actor, absolutely. He’s been in so many banger movies—he’s a fu**ing blockbuster movie star. And people see him and go, “Oh, he slapped Chris Rock. F**k that guy. He fu**ing sucks.” It’s goddamn—it s**ks, man.”

If you don’t remember what happened then allow us to take you down the memory lane pretty quickly. At the 94th edition of the Academy Awards, Chris Rock made a rather controversial joke surrounding Will Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett’s shaved head. The comedian joked that he couldn’t wait to see Jada Pinkett in the new G.I. Joe movie.

This remark upset Smith, who then went onstage and slapped the comedian. Smith took the violent approach in the heat of the moment but at the end of the day, the actor took to his socials to apologize to Chris Rock and the Academy Awards. Nonetheless, the apology never really worked in his favor as the world now remembers him as the guy who allegedly broke the code of the Oscars and slapped Chris Rock.

After the storm͏ settled, Chri͏s Ro͏c͏k͏ receive͏d sympathy from around ͏the world, but t͏he opposite was true for͏ Will Sm͏i͏th, who had t͏o͏ end͏ure widesp͏read cri͏ti͏cism. Well, that’s not all as the podcaster as well as Adam Sandler believes that the slap helped Chris Rock to get back his comedic timing.

Joe Rogan discusses Chris Rock’s comedic resurgence after Oscars humiliation

Before the slap (we are talking about the pre-2022 stage), Chris Rock was finding it difficult to catch his sensational comedic timing but after the incident, Rock found his call to get back to comedy. Well, that’s what Rogan believes, “I think that was the best thing that ever happened to him because then (his standup) became wild again,” said Rogan.

Well, Will Smith referenced the slap in his latest movie Bad Boys 4  by having Martin Lawrence slap Smith over and over again. How did Chris Rock react to this situation? He blatantly called out the actor for playing the victim, “Chris thinks it’s a pretty cheap stunt and he’s telling people how lame he finds it. It’s a classic case of Will making light of a horrific situation. Will’s playing the victim. It was the lowest point of his career, but that’s no excuse.” said an alleged source who is close to Rock.

That’s not all. Smith’s action inspired several memes and jokes that are still going strong. A perfect example would be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’ latest smash hit ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ taking a playful reference to the incident. In one of the scenes, the ‘Merc with a mouth’ shouts “Keep my country’s name out of your f**king mouth!” to another character before throwing a sword in his face. In the film, this is a meta-joke about the character badmouthing Canada, Deadpool actor Ryan Reynold’s home country. It is also in reference to Smith’s words “Keep my wife’s name out of your f**king mouth” at the Oscars in 2022.

Will Smith’s career has been stagnant since the incident and is seemingly being sidelined by Hollywood. Regardless, what’s your take on the situation? State your thoughts in the comments below.