Chris Rock all but ignores the slap during first return to the scene of the crime

Dressed in white from head to toe with a Prince symbol dangling from a chain around his neck, there were signs that Chris Rock was ready to let his guard down enough to open up inside the Dolby Theatre on the first night of his four-night stand in L.A. to close out his Ego Death tour. Rock quickly pivoted away from his assault to take swings at “the woke police.” To him, this term doesn’t just refer to an amorphous mob on social media but the people we all know in real life who’ve been indoctrinated into the cult of selective outrage. One line in particular, in which he described being hit by “Suge Smith” — a reference to infamously violent Death Row Records exec Suge Knight — lets you know where he still stands on his relationship with the embattled actor, despite Smith’s unanswered public apologies to Rock. “People asked me ‘Why didn’t you hit back?’” Rock said. That includes athleasure companies like Lulu Lemon espousing “yoga pants politics” slinging slogans about inclusiveness along with their $100 pairs of trendy tights, or people who spend their time “writing woke-ass tweets on phones made by child slaves.” Our social media obsessions with “likes” over real love and our addiction to attention was another subject Rock spent a lot of time on.