Did Chris Rock Know Jada Pinkett Smith Has Alopecia?
Jada Pinkett Smith has been open about her alopecia diagnosis, describing the terrifying experience of pulling out clumps of her hair in the shower on "Red Table Talk" back in 2018. She's also been open about how difficult and emotional it has been to deal with the hair loss condition, and why it eventually led to her decision to keep her head totally shaved. That's why when Chris Rock joked about her shaved head by comparing her to G.I. Jane at the Oscars, fans on social media and elsewhere were divided as to whether her husband Will Smith was in the right or not to smack the comedian in the face on stage.
It's never cool to mock someone for their appearance or health condition, obviously, but it might change things a little bit if Rock wasn't aware of the fact that Jada has alopecia. Because if he didn't know about the autoimmune disorder, maybe he thought he was just poking fun at her fashion choice.
Chris Rock has beefed with Jada before
According to an unnamed friend of Chris Rock's speaking to TMZ, the comedian had no idea about the alopecia. The friend further stated that Rock "doesn't have a mean bone in his body," and was pretty stunned by the smack. TMZ reported that even though Diddy has claimed that Rock and Will Smith are all good now, the two haven't actually spoken since the already infamous on-stage moment.
Rock hasn't spoken publicly about the incident yet, so we can't absolutely confirm or deny either the anonymous friend or Diddy's statements, but we do know that there's some history between the Smiths and Rock. Back when Rock hosted the Oscars in 2016, he made fun of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith's decision to boycott the awards in support of #OscarsSoWhite, quipping, "Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna's panties. I wasn't invited" (via CNN). We don't know if this means that Rock really did know about Jada's alopecia, or if the slap had to do with more than the off-color joke. We'll just have to wait for the upcoming official statements from everybody.