Jerry Seinfeld Asked Chris Rock to Parody His Will Smith Slap in Unfrosted, But He Was Too 'Shook'

Jerry Seinfeld wanted Chris Rock to parody his infamous Academy Awards incident with Will Smith in his recent Netflix movie, Unfrosted.

During Seinfeld's May 8 appearance on Dana Carvey and David Spade's Fly on the Wall podcast, the comedian shared that he originally intended for Rock, 59, to play Cedric the Entertainer's part as the host of the fictional Bowl & Spoon Awards in the new comedy.

"The other thing I wanted to do that I almost did was Chris Rock was going to be the emcee of the Bowl & Spoon Awards — and we shot that right after the Will Smith slap," Seinfeld, 70, said on the podcast. "I was going to have somebody come up on the stage and have Chris punch 'em out as they got there."

Because filming for the movie took place not long after the March 2022 incident between Rock and Smith — in which Smith, 55, smacked Rock onstage during the 94th Oscars broadcast — Seinfeld noted that Rock "wasn't up to perform."

"He was a little shook from that event. That was what that scene was going to be, but Cedric saved the day," he said. I love Cedric."

Seinfeld then asked cohosts Spade, 59, and Carvey, 68, whether they thought the bit would have been funny if Rock had gone through with the scene. "Without the Will Smith thing, I think it's funny," Carvey responded. "There's still kind of a residual darkness around that moment." 

"Isn't that we're attracted to more than anything, residual darkness?" Seinfeld said, before adding, "I don't know if it would have worked. It was an idea."

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Seinfeld's new movie, which marks his debut as a feature film director, functions as a fictional origin story for the popular breakfast pastry. The movie takes place in the 1960s as "Kellogg's and Post, sworn cereal rivals, race to create a pastry that will change the face of breakfast forever," per an official synopsis.

Seinfeld also enlisted Mad Men stars Jon Hamm and John Slattery to portray advertising executives in one funny homage to the beloved AMC series.

"A reason I made the movie is because I couldn't be in Mad Men, but I thought I could be in a suit in the '60s in an office, so it was as close as I could get," Seinfeld told PEOPLE of the moment.

Unfrosted is streaming on Netflix now.