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Promotional art for God Loves Me
Cover image credit: via TMDB

God Loves Me

Marlon Wayans

HBO Max · 2023 · 59 min

Marlon Wayans blames himself for the infamous Oscars slap.

Marlon Wayans frames the most discussed pop-culture physical altercation of the decade, the 2022 Oscars slap, not as a fleeting tabloid event, but as the cosmic culmination of his own personal history. Filmed at the Center Stage Theater in Atlanta, this hour-long set acts as an open, highly animated letter to his longtime friends Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Chris Rock. Instead of picking a side, he paints a portrait of his decades-long relationships with all three, connecting their public meltdown to his own life story.

The narrative spine of the show rests on a ridiculous premise: the slap is actually Wayans’ fault. He traces the root cause back to 1988, when his brother Keenen Ivory Wayans cast Chris Rock instead of Marlon in the film I’m Gonna Git You Sucka. According to Wayans, that single casting decision launched Rock’s career and positioned him as a lifelong rival who repeatedly heckled him, stole his crushes, and eventually got slapped on live television.

Wayans relies heavily on his signature physical comedy to sell these stories, stretching out impressions of Smith’s post-slap tears and Jada’s stoicism. Critics and audiences split on the concept, with some finding an entire hour dedicated to an over-analyzed Hollywood scandal exhausting, while others praised the way he grounded the tabloid drama in his own lived history.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Examining the Oscars slap incident and taking personal responsibility

    Wayans dissects the slap from multiple perspectives and jokingly asserts that the incident was entirely his fault rather than Will, Jada, or Chris's.

  2. Crush on teenage Jada Pinkett Smith

    Recounts playing Stevie Wonder's 'Too Shy to Say' for Jada, only for her to respond by playing En Vogue's 'Never Gonna Get It.'

  3. Being humiliated by Chris Rock at The Laugh Factory as a 19-year-old

    Describes being roasted by Rock ('Which one are you, Tito?'), making fun of Rock's 1980s look as 'the color of violence,' and explaining how the humiliation caused him to stop doing stand-up for two decades.

  4. Will Smith's film career and hip-hop catalog

    Contrasts Smith being the only Black action star saving the world with his 'easy-listening hip-hop' hits that 'look Black but write White.'

  5. Reenacting reactions to the Oscars slap

    Acts out how white viewers versus a Black family privately responded to the slap, and how the Wayans family would have intervened had Marlon been involved.

How it plays

Tone
Blunt, boisterous, ferocious, and healing.
On stage
Blunt, boisterous, vulnerable, and self-aware, blending animated physical comedy with personal honesty.
Pace
High-energy and physical, marked by active movement and leaping into the audience.
About
The 2022 Oscars slap, Friendship and family, Jealousy and envy, Black Hollywood, Mistakes and redemption, Love and letting go

What the critics said

Received positive reviews praising it as a hilarious, ferocious, and thoughtful examination of the Oscars slap that wove personal reflections and Hollywood history together more effectively than expected.

In the room: Strong live audience reception with standing ovations in Atlanta, though online viewer reactions were somewhat divided over dedicating an entire hour to the Oscars slap.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: press.wbd.com, rottentomatoes.com, thewrap.com, imdb.com, decider.com, okayplayer.com, letterboxd.com, parlemag.com, hollywoodreporter.com, hbomax.com, goldderby.com.

Backstory

Filmed in the wake of the 94th Academy Awards ceremony, where Will Smith slapped Chris Rock; released just two days before Chris Rock's live Netflix special addressing the incident.

Details

Released
Taped
2022, Center Stage Theater, Atlanta
Runtime
59 min
Where
HBO Max
Director
Troy Miller
Honors
2 nominations total (IMDb)
Topics
Before
You Know What It Is (2021)
After
Good Grief (2024)

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