Outside of making endless headlines for his recent Netflix comedy special, Chris Rock is now being slammed for his rudeness by a well-known British TV presenter. During Monday’s live taping of “Good Morning Britain,” which is the equivalent of “Good Morning America” in the U.S., Richard Madeley took aim at the 58-year-old as he and his co-host Susanna Reid discussed Rock’s stand-up show, “Selective Outrage,” which had premiered over the weekend.
The pair were reacting to Rock opening up about Will Smith slapping him at last year’s Oscars when Madeley recalled an interview he did with the comedian during a promotional tour in support of his 2005 movie, “Madagascar.” He said that while interviewing him and fellow actor Ben Stiller, he couldn’t seem to forget how rude Rock was behaving, though he opted not to disclose what had made the experience so unpleasant to him.
Richard Madeley starting beef with Chris Rock is excellent! I would love to see them go back & forth.😂 ‘I kept my hands to myself’🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/Ag27dyxl7g
— Omar Abid (@omarstandup) March 6, 2023
“I’m not defending what happened to him, it’s wrong, completely wrong. But in 50 years in this game, he is rudest man I’ve ever had to interview, Chris Rock,” Madeley, who is one of the highest-paid TV presenters in the UK, said. “I have to say, it stands out in my memory,” the 66-year-old continued. “He was just consistently unbelievably rude. A thoroughly unpleasant piece of work.” When Reid joked that they should invite Rock on their show, Madeley agreed before jokingly assuring he would keep his hands to himself, referring to the Oscars slap.
During the hour-long special, which was the first time Netflix had broadcast a live event on its streaming platform, Rock also commented on his thoughts about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry after they quit the royal family in 2020 and relocated to California. The “Amsterdam” actor said he couldn’t understand why Markle had been doing so much “complaining” considering she had hit the “light-skinned lottery” by marrying a prince.
“‘They’re so racist, they’re so racist.’ Some of that s*** she went through was not racism. It was just some in-law s***,” Rock told the studio audience. “Sometimes it’s just some in-law s*** because she’s complaining, I’m like ‘What the f*** is she talking about?’” Rock then brought up the couple’s interview with Oprah Winfrey back in 2021, when Markle revealed there had been a conversation in the royal family while she was pregnant about how dark her son, Archie, would be after she gave birth to her firstborn with Harry.
Chris Rock roasts Meghan Markle:
“That s**t she went through was not racism. It was just some was in-law s**t!” pic.twitter.com/qLTgTSFK3M
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) March 5, 2023
controversial take but I think Will Smith should slap Chris Rock again this year
— Alice Hamilton (@AliceRHamilton) February 21, 2023
“I’m like, ‘That’s not racist because even Black people want to know how brown the baby going to be,’” Rock added. What he didn’t mention during the special was that Markle had also told Winfrey how Archie wouldn’t be given security nor would he receive a title despite being the son of a prince, which all tied back to the royals quizzing Harry about their concerns about Archie’s skin color.
“In those months when I was pregnant … we have in tandem the conversation of, ‘He won’t be given security. He’s not going to be given a title,’ and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born,” Markle told Winfrey.