Chris Rock Breaks Silence On Will Smith’s Oscars Slap

Chris Rock has broken his silence on the much talked-about incident that occurred at the Academy Awards this past Sunday, in which Will Smith walked on stage and slapped Rock in the face.

Rock was on stage presenting the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature when he made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. The joke did not land well by any means, and Smith reacted by leaving his seat, approaching Rock, and slapping him in the face.

Smith then went back to his seat and shouted loudly at Rock, telling him, “Keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth!“

Since the incident occurred, many celebrities have spoken out with their opinions on the matter. Oscars co-host Amy Schumer explained that she was still in shock after what went down. Jim Carrey expressed that he was “sickened” by the whole ordeal, and Adam Sandler voiced his support for Rock after the incident.

Smith’s mom has even addressed the slap, saying she’s never seen him act that way before. However, Rock himself hasn’t spoken on it, until now.

Variety reports that Rock has now addressed the event for the first time since it happened. At his comedy show in Boston on Wednesday night, Rock reportedly addressed the incident right at the start of the show, explaining that he’s still trying to process it at the moment, but will discuss it further at some point. Read the quote from Rock down below:

“I don’t have a bunch of shit about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend. I’m still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point I’ll talk about that shit. And it will be serious and funny.”

While Rock’s response was brief, it is completely understandable that the comedian still needs proper time to process it all. As unexpected as the slap was for audience members and those watching at home, one can only imagine how Rock felt before, during, and after that moment.

The conversation around the event has hardly slowed down since Sunday night, and that likely doesn’t make it any easier for Rock to focus on his own thoughts or process it in full. Smith has since issued an apology, and it’ll be interesting to see if Rock ever addresses that specifically.

Based on what Rock has said, while the incident is an incredibly serious one, he seems to believe he will find some humor in it eventually. For now, it appears Rock is simply not ready to discuss what happened, and he should be given the space to process it on his own time. It’s also possible that Smith is still processing it all too, and only time will tell if the two stars will ever be able to put it all behind them.