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Chris Rock Breaks Silence on Will Smith Oscars Slap

Chris Rock Breaks Silence on Will Smith Oscars Slap

The comedian played a sold out show on Wednesday night where he address the incident for the first time publicly.

Chris Rock returned to the stage on Wednesday for the first time since the infamous Oscars slap.


Rock played two shows on his "Ego Death Tour" in Boston, where he was met with minutes-long standing ovations from both show's crowds. Responding to the group's reaction, he addressed the audience with tears in his eyes,

"Yo, let me do the show! Let me be all misty and s***. How was your weekend?"

The crowd laughed at the quip. Rock continued, noting the elephant in the room,

"I don't have a bunch of s*** about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I had like a whole show I wrote before this weekend. And I'm still kind of processing what happened, so at some point I'll talk about that s***. And it'll be serious and it'll be funny, but right now I'm going to tell some jokes. It’s nice to just be out.”

An audience member then yelled “F*** Will Smith!” but Rock ignored the comment and began his hour-long set.

The show went on as planned, and Rock began his second show hours later, where he was met with another standing ovation. He reiterated that he planned to address the incident fully later, but until then,

"I wrote a show before all this nonsense happened."

Rock then dispelled the rumors that he had spoken privately to Will Smith or the Academy over the affair, revealing,

"I haven't talked to anyone, despite what you heard."

Since the Oscars, tickets for Rock's shows across the country have skyrocketed in price, jumping from around $50 to as high as $800.

Two hours prior to his first show, the relatively small Boston theater was swarmed with over a dozen journalists setting up cameras for Rock's first public appearance since the incident. Religious advocates even made an appearance to “send a message that violence is not the way to resolve conflict.”

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Ryan Adamczeski

Digital Director

Ryan is the Digital Director of The Advocate Channel, and a graduate of New York University Tisch's Department of Dramatic Writing, with a focus in television writing and comedy. She is also a member of GALECA, the LGBTQ+ society of entertainment critics.

Ryan is the Digital Director of The Advocate Channel, and a graduate of New York University Tisch's Department of Dramatic Writing, with a focus in television writing and comedy. She is also a member of GALECA, the LGBTQ+ society of entertainment critics.