Jerry Seinfeld wanted Chris Rock to parody Will Smith Oscars slap in Unfrosted: 'He was still a little shook'

Unfrosted's Bowl and Spoon Awards almost had a moment that could have upstaged its surprising Mad Men reunion, Jerry Seinfeld has revealed. 

Seinfeld originally asked Chris Rock to host the movie's fake awards show, suggesting he parody the infamous 2022 Oscars moment when Will Smith slapped him in the middle of the ceremony. 

"The other thing I wanted to do, that I almost did, was Chris Rock was gonna be the emcee of the Bowl and Spoon Awards," Seinfeld said on Dana Carvey and David Sapde's Fly on the Wall podcast. "We shot that right after the Will Smith slap, and I was gonna have somebody come up on the stage and have Chris punch them out."

That parody didn't come to fruition. Unfrosted, Seinfeld's directorial debut on the faux origin of Pop-Tarts, wound up casting Cedric the Entertainer as the award show host. "Chris wasn't ... he wasn't up to perform. He was still a little shook from the event," Seinfeld said. "But that was what the scene was going to be. But Cedric saved the day."

Unfrosted kept the awards show, which was sponsored by Pop-Tarts purveyor, Kellogg's. That sponsor company — led in the movie by Seinfeld, Jim Gaffigan, and Melissa McCarthy — won all of the awards over its corporate rival, Post.

Seinfeld asked the comedy veterans — and Rock's former Saturday Night Live costars — if they thought the joke would have landed as it was originally written. "Without the Will Smith thing, I think it's funny," Carvey said. "It's just sort of, there's still kind of a residual darkness around that moment."

Seinfeld was uncertain about how it would have played out. "Yeah, isn't that what we're attracted to more than anything? Residual darkness?" he said. "I don't know if it would have worked."

"If Chris is there and wants to do it, you get it," Carvey added. "You can always trim it. Always get the shot."

Representatives for Rock did not respond to Entertainment Weekly's request for comment.

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Rock, according to Seinfeld, wasn't ready to address the Oscars moment when Unfrosted filmed, but he did address it later during his Netflix comedy special, Selective Outrage, the platform's first live event.

 "He's in movies with his shirt off. If I'm in a movie getting open heart surgery, I got on a sweater. He trained and played Muhammad Ali, I played Pookie in New Jack City. We are not the same!" Rock said toward the end of his set. "Even in animated movies, I'm a zebra, he's a f---ing shark."