The comedian Chris Rock wants to be clear about one thing: Will Smith's notorious Oscars slap hurt.

During a live Netflix comedy show, Rock, 58, went into great detail about the 2022 Academy Awards incident.

"You know what people say, they say, 'words hurt,'" Rock said. "Anybody that say words hurt has never been punched in the face."

Will Smith has since said "bottled" rage led to his actions.

Because Mr. Smith was permitted to attend the ceremony and later earned his first-ever Oscar for Best Actor, the altercation served as a cultural litmus test for discussions about America's tolerance for casual violence.

Rock was lauded for keeping his cool in the wake of the incident.

The comedian addressed a variety of topics in Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, the streaming service's inaugural live comedy performance, including woke culture, Meghan Markle, and politics.

"I'm going to try to do the show without offending anyone," Rock said, in a nod to the Smith altercation. "Because you never know who might get triggered."

Later he added, America "is so screwed up right now if the Russians came here right now, half the country would go 'let's hear them out'."

But he saved the best for last and used the final moments of the show to address the incident with Will Smith.

"People are like, 'Did it hurt?' It still hurts! I got Summertime ringing in my ears," Rock said, referring to Smith's 1991 single.

"I took that hit like (Manny) Pacquiao," Rock boasted to cheers from the crowd.

In a nod to the show's title, Rock said he believes Smith practices "selective outrage" and that the slap had more to do with Smith and his wife, Jada's, relationship struggles, than his Oscar's joke.

The couple have been candid about the ups and downs of their relationship and even publicly addressed their struggles on Jada's Facebook Watch show, Red Table Talk.

"We've all been cheated on, everybody in here been cheated on, none of us have ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us on television," Rock joked. "She hurt him way more than he hurt me."

Social media lit up with reactions to Rock finally addressing the incident, with many noting how artists like Rock often laugh through their pain.

Others felt the comedian's jokes about rooting for the slave owners in Will Smith's latest film, Emancipation, were a step too far.

In a mic drop moment, Rock ended the special by addressing why he chose not to fight back.

"I got parents! Because I was raised!" Rock said. "And you know what my parents taught me? Don't fight in front of white people."