Chris Rock's joke about Jada Pinkett Smith at the Oscars last week prompted Will Smith to storm the stage and slap the comedian across the face in a move that has rocked Hollywood. But it's not the first time Rock cracked a joke at Pinkett Smith's expense, in fact, he has been poking fun at her since the 1990s.
Footage of the comedian mocking Pinkett Smith's activism back in 1997 has emerged in the fallout of the slap, just days after other footage of him mocking her at the 2016 Oscars made headlines too.
The comic used to host his own eponymous late-night show and a clip of him mocking Pinkett Smith's participation in the Million Woman March has been unearthed.
Content creator Lailah Lynn compiled the moments in a YouTube deep-dive of Rock's jokes about Pinkett Smith.
"Million Women March was on last week in Philadelphia. I talked to Ice Cube, he called it 'B****es by the Bell,'" Rock says in the clip, before continuing. "I didn't say it! Ice Cube said it. And Too Short said it too!"
The Million Woman March was a protest organized in October 1997 in Philadelphia that saw organizers advocate for African American women.
Rock joked that the event took so long to organize because the women didn't want to wear the same outfits. He then namechecked Pinkett Smith and other speakers at the event.
"You know, at the Million Women March, there were moving speeches from people like Maxine Waters, Winnie Mandela, and here are some inspirational words from the lovely Jada Pinkett."
Rock then cut to a clip of a young Pinkett Smith speaking on stage at the march.
"I am here today because this is an act of power, women. Okay?" she says before the doctored footage shows her shouting the lyrics to "The Roof Is on Fire" and not her real speech.
The resurfaced footage is gaining traction on Twitter, with more than 2,000 people liking a tweet about Lynn's video on the subject.
Pinkett Smith went on to appear on The Chris Rock Show in the same year, shortly after Rock made the Million Woman March joke and the two seemed to get on amicably, despite him teasing her involvement in the protest again.
"Yeah I've noticed a change in the street," Rock said disparagingly when Pinkett Smith spoke about the event.
Back at the 2016 Academy Awards, Rock made a dig at Pinkett Smith who was boycotting the event that year as part of the #OscarsSoWhite initiative which saw a number of public figures take a stance against the Academy due to a lack of diversity.
The comedian was hosting the awards that year, and in his opening monolog, he quipped: "Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna's panties. I wasn't invited."
He also joked about Smith, adding: "It's not fair that Will was this good and didn't get nominated. It's also not fair that Will was paid $20 million for Wild Wild West!"
