Celebrities

Chris Rock jokes that people who say ‘words hurt’ have never been ‘punched in the face’

Chris Rock jokes that people who say ‘words hurt’ have never been ‘punched in the face’
Chris Rock’s Mom Calls Out Will Smith’s Oscars Ban and Reacts to ...
Video

Chris Rock joked about the shocking Oscars slap and said that people who say "words hurt" have never been "punched in the face".

Back in March, Will Smith slapped Rock across the face at the Academy Awards after the comedian poked fun at his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and her being bald.

Pinkett Smith has been previously transparent about her alopecia, which is an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss.

"I'm OK if anybody was wondering," Rock said at the beginning of his show at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Thursday.

"I got most of my hearing back," he added.

Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

In a report from The Times, Rock noted that he wasn't going to make jokes about the slap during his latest show, "Ego Death."

However, he hinted at potentially speaking about it on a streaming platform.

"People expect me to talk about the b-------. I'm not going to talk about it right now. I'll get to it eventually. On Netflix."

In a later part of his set, Rock joked, as stated on The Telegraph: "Anyone who says 'words hurt' has never been punched in the face."

Rock admitted in another comedy show that he would not mention the slap until he's "paid."

But last week, the comedian ended up making jokes about the slap.

When Dave Chappelle was tackled on stage during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl last week, Rock got onstage and joked: "Was that Will Smith?"

The Hollywood Reporter also said that later that week, Rock joined Chappelle on stage at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles and also joked that he got "smacked by the softest n**** that ever rapped."

Both Rock's brother Tony and mother have also publicly objected to the slap.

In an interview with Billie Jean Shaw on WIS South Carolina, Rosalie "Rose" Rock, 77, said that she was home watching the Oscars with the other millions of viewers when the slap occurred.

"I thought it was [staged] at first until he started with the obscenities," Rock told Shaw.

"When Will slapped Chris, he slapped all of us, but he really slapped me. Because when you hurt my child, you hurt me."

Since the incident at the Oscars, Smith apologised to Rock on his Instagram, stepped down from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and also received a 10-year ban from attending any Academy events or programs.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Conversation (0)