Less than a week after the slapping incident at the Oscars, a St Vincent and the Grenadines Member of Parliament (MP) threatened to give one of his colleagues a “Chris Rock Special.”
Daniel Cummings told Minister of Public Service Frederick Stephenson that he would have gotten a “special” were they near each other.
On Sunday, actor Will Smith slapped comedian and Academy Award host Chris Rock over a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada.
Cummings was debating a resolution, COVID-19 (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2021, (No.32 Of 2021) when he made the comments.
“On this side of the house, one of the portfolios I shadow is health. And, therefore, I have been on the forefront of discussing matters relating to COVID from this side,” Cummings was quoted as saying.
“From overseas,” Stephenson retorted from across the floor.
However, Cummings was not finished. He responded: “Madam Speaker, I charge you to advise the honourable minister, who makes these cynical comments about my medical attention, to resist being asinine in his comments because that is what he’s doing. You do not make snide remarks about people’s medical needs.”
Stephenson answered, “I never mentioned your medical needs.”
But, Cummings continued: “If he were close to me, he would get a Chris Rock special.”
Some laughter and applause erupted, and the Speaker, Rochelle Forde, banged her gavel in an attempt to restore order.
Not quite finished, Cummings added, “Because he is that foolish. He is that foolish.”
But Stephenson maintained that Cummings was overseas.
Cummings spent about a year in Trinidad where he had gone for medical attention for a back injury he said he suffered in Parliament when he and other opposition lawmakers were thrown out of the assembly chamber in March 2011
The MP was prevented from leaving Trinidad after the country closed its borders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In response to slapping Stephenson, the Minister said, “Try that outside.”
Once again, the speaker banged her gavel and urged members to “observe proper parliamentary language.”
“Thank you Madam Speaker,” Cummings said as the speaker urged him to continue with the debate.