Chris Rock Jokes About The Will Smith Slap Ahead Of This Year’s Oscars
His new special will stream this weekend, ahead of the 95th Academy Awards.
As the 2023 Oscars approach, we can't help but be reminded of the controversial chaos that were the last awards, when Will Smith, in a fury, walked onstage to slap host Chris Rock over a joke about his wife.
Soon after, Smith apologised, the Academy suspended him, Rock refused to press charges, and the dust settled on the drama—or so we thought. Nearly a year after the fact, Rock has finally broken his silence on the slap, joking about it during a stand-up performance, which has not yet been streamed online.
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"The thing people want to know ... did it hurt? Hell yeah, it hurt," Rock said, per The Wall Street Journal. The comedy show took place in Charleston, South Carolina, this January.
Rock also reportedly referenced his and Smith's respective past roles—Smith in the 2001 film Ali and Rock in the 1991 movie New Jack City—when he said, "He played Muhammad Ali! I played Pookie!"
"Even in animated movies, I'm a zebra, he's a fucking shark," Rock added, according to The U.S. Sun.
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He also allegedly referenced one of Smith's rap tracks when he joked, "I got hit so hard I heard 'Summertime' ringing in my ears."
The show came ahead of the release of Rock's much-awaited new Netflix special, Selective Outrage. It will air live on the streaming service this Saturday, March 4, from Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre—just one week before this year's Academy Awards on March 12.
This article originally appeared in Harper's BAZAAR US.