Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12, episode 6 has a hilarious reference to Will Smith’s Oscars slap, made even funnier by one crazy coincidence.

Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12, episode 6, “The Gettysburg Address,” has a hilarious reference to Will Smith’s notorious Oscars slap, and the gag is made even funnier by a crazy coincidence behind the scenes. Early in the episode, Susie unveils a billboard for her new caftan business, bearing an image of an uncharacteristically chipper Susie wearing one of the caftans. Shortly thereafter, Larry is driving by the billboard and notices that a graffiti artist has spray-painted a giant penis in Susie’s hand, which makes him laugh hysterically.

While Jeff and Susie are waiting outside a theater to see Ted Danson play Abraham Lincoln on stage, a passer-by makes a joke about Susie’s defaced billboard. Susie demands that Jeff stand up for her, so he marches over to the guy, pretends to rough him up, and fake-slaps him across the face to make Susie happy. As he walks away, Jeff says, “Keep my wife’s business out of your motherf***in’ mouth!” This scene is clearly a reference to the moment when Smith slapped Chris Rock for joking about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith at the Academy Awards.

Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Will Smith Slap Parody Accidentally Released On The Same Night As The 2024 Oscars

Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12’s parody of the Oscars slap is made even funnier by the fact that the episode aired the same night as this year’s Academy Awards ceremony. Jeff Schaffer, the director and co-writer of the episode, told The Hollywood Reporter that it was just a wild coincidence that the episode aired on the same night as the Oscars. This Curb Your Enthusiasm storyline was plotted long before the 2024 Oscars were delayed due to 2023’s Hollywood strikes. Even though it was unintentional, it was still perfect timing.

How Curb Your Enthusiasm Satirizes The Motivation Behind The Oscars Slap

Curb Your Enthusiasm doesn’t just reference the Oscars slap; it also satirizes the motivation behind the slap. Midway through the episode, when Larry is teasing Sienna Miller about her frequent use of wigs in her acting roles, she angrily reveals that she has alopecia and storms off. Larry insists he didn’t know she had alopecia, which is the same defense used by Rock for the alopecia-related joke about Pinkett Smith that led to the slap. This scene points out how easy it is for a comedian to unwittingly say something insensitive about a medical condition they don’t know about.

When Jeff confronts the guy who mocked Susie, he pretends to fight him while secretly asking him to play along for his wife’s benefit. Jeff’s fake fight is purely performative to make his wife happy, lampooning the fact that Smith only slapped Rock because he thought it was what his wife wanted him to do. Much like Jeff, Smith laughed at the mockery of his wife until he realized how angry it made her. Curb Your Enthusiasm doesn’t just spoof the Oscars slap; it gets to the root of it.