Ticket sales for Chris Rock's comedy tour spike after he was slapped by Will Smith

Ticket sales for comedian Chris Rock’s tour have exploded after he was on the receiving end of a slap from Will Smith during the Oscars.

Smith struck Rock after he made a “G. I. Jane” joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia.

The Men in Black star followed up the smack with a stern warning to keep Pinkett Smith’s name “out of [his] “f***ing mouth.”

After the row, ticket marketplace TickPick tweeted: “We sold more tickets to see Chris Rock overnight than we did in the past month combined.”

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According to Newsweek, prices for the comedian’s tour also spiked after his run-in with Smith.

Tickets for a table at a show this Friday in Boston was priced at $338 before 11am yesterday, and jumped to $450 by noon. Tickets sold out by 1pm.

Rock posted about his “Ego Death” world tour four weeks ago, promising “very personal and very funny” new material.

Aside from apparently inspiring a boost in ticket sales, the Oscars moment has prompted opinion pieces, social media arguments, and of course - its fair share of memes.

MPs have even weighed in on the matter, with the education secretary being asked about it twice yesterday morning.

In the meantime, Smith issued a lengthy apology in which he said "there is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness".

He wrote: "I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be."

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