“It hurt, but I’m not going to let it get to me” – Chris Rock on Will Smith’s slap
Four months after the Oscars controversy, Chris Rock made a joke about moving on.
“I’m not a victim, mother—er,” he said during a stand-up concert with Kevin Hart on Sunday at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey, Us Weekly reports.
In March, Will Smith rushed onstage and slapped Rock in the face after he joked about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head at the Academy Awards. The condition known as Alopecia (Jada, 50, suffers from it) causes her to lose her hair.
On Sunday, Chris Rock told Us Weekly, “Anyone who believes words hurt has never been hit in the face.” The pain was excruciating, mother—er. The next day, I brushed it off and went to work. When I have a paper cut, I don’t go to the hospital.
PEOPLE’s request for comment from Rock’s representatives was not answered.
During the March 27 event, Will, 53, stormed the stage and punched Rock in the face after taking issue with the joke about Jada. The joke was “too much for me to bear” and he “reacted emotionally,” Will said in a statement days later.
I would like to openly apologize to you, Chris, for any offense I may have caused.” Will, who eventually quit and was barred from attending their ceremonies for the next ten years, stated in his apology. I strayed from the proper course of action, and I’m sorry for that. I’m ashamed of myself, and my actions don’t reflect the guy I want to be. In a world of love and peace, “violence has no place.”
Although he’s made passing references to the Oscars incident in his standup routines since then, Rock has yet to delve into the topic in any depth. He has stated that he will “discuss it” at some point.
On the June 1 episode of her Red Table Speak Facebook Watch show, Jada said, “About Oscar night: My deepest desire is that these two brilliant, talented guys get an opportunity to heal, talk this out, and reconcile.”
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We need them both, and we all need each other more than ever given the current state of the globe,” the actress said. Will and I will continue to do what we’ve done for the past 28 years—figuring out this thing called life together—until then.
Rock, 43, and Hart, 43, concluded their collaborative comedy tour, Rock Hart: Only Headliners Allowed, on Monday night in Brooklyn, New York, where they played the final gig of their five-date run.
Hart surprised Rock onstage with a goat towards the end of their Madison Square Garden act on Saturday, during which they were joined by Dave Chappelle, in a nod to Hart’s claim that Rock is the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time).
Chappelle, 48, asked Rock, “Chris, what are you going to call this goat?”
Hart’s response to the audience’s laughter, “His name is Will Smith,” was amusing.
Even so, Hart told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show on Monday that “[Chris is] my G.O, he’s my guy,” recalling the memorable moment. “[Chris is] my guy,” Hart said. “In front of the audience, I wanted him to feel that and realize how I feel about him.”
