Chris Rock 'Still Processing' Getting Socked By Will Smith

Chris Rock is back on stage, only this time, he’s not presenting any award, but he’s definitely cracking those jokes, minus Will Smith or Jada references. Rock is currently on his “Ego Death Tour” and if the name of the show is itself not a complete study in irony, we don’t know what is.

The 94th Annual Academy Awards will forever be remembered as the time Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage, in the middle of his presentation for Best Documentary feature, all because he could not take a joke about Jada.

Here’s the latest on Rock…

Let’s Revisit 2022 Oscar’s “Slapstage”

Will and Jada Smith before the incident — MEGA

When Rock came on stage, looking dapper and cracking a few jokes, no one in the audience expected the future turn of events.

Rock pointed at Jada, his co-star from the Madagascar animated franchise, and said, “Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it!”

While the celebrity audience nervously tittered, Rock carried on, calling it a “nice joke” but within a few seconds, the scene had changed. While Smith was spotted laughing, at a roll of Jada’s eyes, his mood changed. He strode on stage as Rock stood there with a friendly smile on his face, expecting some banter.

Shocking all, Will Smith took a swing at Rock, socking him one. Initially, it seemed like a scripted joke. But the Rock mouthed, “Oh wow… Will Smith just smacked the sh** out of me” to which Smith, now back in his seat, yelled, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth!”

Can’t be unseen#willsmith #chrisrock #slap #batman #robin pic.twitter.com/2aAqXiPwcE

— 9gagceo.eth (@9gagceo) March 28, 2022

Rock tried to make sense, carrying on the conversation saying, “Wow, dude, it was a G.I. Jane joke,” but Smith hollered out his warning again, “Keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth!”

“I’m going to, okay?” Rock finally replied, going on to say, “That was the … greatest night in the history of television” and finally, gathered his wits to present the award.

Will Smith Later Apologized To Chris Rock

Chris Rock hasn't spoken to anyone about the Oscar slap — MEGA

Soon after the presentation, Rock left the Academy Awards, and later Will Smith clinched the Best Actor Award for “King Richard”. He apologized to the Academy in his speech, saying that his actions had come from a place of “love”. The next day, the Academy Award winner issued a formal apology to Rock, on social media, calling his behavior “unacceptable and inexcusable.”

“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. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness,” Smith wrote.

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A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith)

The Academy also issued a statement this Wednesday, saying that Smith was asked to leave after the incident but “refused”. The statement also read that the Academy recognizes, “we could have handled the situation differently.”

Chris Rock Greeted With Standing Ovations

Chris Rock still processing Will Smith slap — MEGA

In the first of his two shows at Boston’s Wilbur Theater, Rock walked onto the stage to be greeted by the audience with two back-to-back standing ovations, and it moved him to tears.

“Let me be all misty and s***,” Rock said and then gathered himself to quip, “How was your weekend?”, to the audience’s enthusiastic laughter.

Rock did allude to the incident but did not talk about it much, saying, “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.”

He continued his performance and his jokes and later returned for his second show an hour later. He got a standing ovation again.

Rock again said that this show was written ” before all this nonsense happened” and that he would talk about the incident at some point. But the one thing he was clear about, despite the earlier confusion about Diddy as in Sean Combs’ comment that Will Smith and Chris Rock had made up, was a simple statement: “I haven’t talked to anyone, despite what you heard.”

The ball is in Will Smith’s court, again.

The fans are still mad at Smith, never mind the Oscar.

Please give Chris rock an Oscar. Take it from will smith and just give to Chris Rock 👍👍

— GaToCONBoTaS 🇬🇹+🇺🇸 🗽🤸‍♂️🚴‍♂️ 🥊🥋 (@GATOCON39758903) March 29, 2022

For Will Smith not be taken out of the room after hitting you, and then to accept the award and not apologize to you while he did apologize to The Academy, and then talk and cry about love and peace is mind blowing. Kudos to you Chris Rock, for your grace in this.

— Worth Repeating (@pvaughnd) March 28, 2022