Veteran comedian Marlon Wayans knows a thing or two about being humiliated. While promoting his upcoming HBO Max special, “Marlon Wayans Presents The Headliners,” during a recent appearance on “The Breakfast Club,” the “White Chicks” star weighed in on the Oscars slap heard around the world and recalled a time his famous family embarrassed him on one the biggest award stages.
While sharing his thoughts on the highly publicized incident in which Will Smith smacked Chris Rock onstage while the comedian was presenting the next award at the 94th annual Academy Awards, Marlon revealed the time he was “humiliated publicly” when his brothers put him in a “little suit” during the Emmys.
“That sh-t hurt me till this day,” the 49-year-old explained. “It hurt me. They put me in a little suit. They played a prank on me in front of the world, and I know that kind of humiliation. I was mad at my brothers. I wanted to fight them n-ggas. I wanted to slap them. I was so mad. I was in the limousine, like, ‘Don’t talk to me. Don’t talk to me.’ I told [older brother] Keenen, ‘F-ck you,’ And he was, like, 260 pounds.”
As for the “Good Hair” star, Marlon said, “What happened and transpired, I know Chris is hurt, and he’s humiliated,” before adding, “But from this, he will be better.” He continued, “There’s nothing greater for a comedian than humiliation. Because learning to deal with that, now you come out the gate, now you got these jokes, now you’re building a bigger, better you.”
During a later interview on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” following his Emmy disaster, the Wayans clan explained what led to the prank on their little brother, noting that the then-rising star opted for a less expensive route when choosing his attire to present at the annual ceremony against the sage advice of his seasoned celebrity siblings.
Still, they all agreed to the plan. However, on the night of the show, instead of intentionally clowning Marlon as they all had previously decided, his siblings just stared at him, causing it to appear as though Marlon just had poor fashion taste at the time and not that it was planned.
