Chris Rock Talked Dealing With Anger And Emotions Before Oscars Incident

As the Oscars debacle continues to gather momentum, viewers of the interaction between Chris Rock and Will Smith wonder why the comedian played it off calmly.

It turns out Rock could have hit Will back but let it go, and that viral moment was not his first time avoiding a fight.

An interview done earlier this year surfaced, where the "Everybody Hates Chris" actor opened up about his decision to stay clear of violence.

The internet remains taken aback over how Rock got smacked on the stage of the Academy Awards ceremony by Will over his comments about Jada's alopecia-induced hair loss.

On the January 12 episode of the "Fly on the Wall" podcast with David Spade and Dana Carvey, Rock revealed that he used to be bullied a lot throughout his childhood. He recounted:

"Half of the bullying was because I was just a little guy. Then I got bused to school, and the bullying was because I was a little guy and I was Black. I was getting double bullied."

One day, Rock had enough of all the harassment and decided to stand up for himself against one of his oppressors, but things quickly spiraled out of control. He recounted:

"I went home, I put a brick in a book bag — this is like a legendary story in my neighborhood — I swung that sh-- and smacked the guy in the face with this brick and stomped on him, Joe Pesci-style, to the point that we thought he might die." 

Rock began getting therapy after that incident and realized that he had been scared to get angry, which led him to keep bending over backward for others.

The "Madagascar" actor learned that due to his assault on the bully, he began letting his friends and everybody walk all over him. Today, he is now able to express his anger and emotions better. He said:

"I'm not scared of letting people know how I feel about certain things. Now, I can say, 'Hey, I don't like what you said to me,' without losing my head, without hitting someone on the head with a fri--in' brick."

It pays to take the high road, as Rock's decision not to engage in a fistfight with Smith has led to immense public support for his upcoming shows.

The Blast disclosed that Tick Pick, which is among the secondary marketplaces for the comedian's upcoming stand-up tour, reported a significant increase in ticket sales.

These reports followed the Oscars incident on Sunday, March 27. Even better for the star, the sales site has gone up by almost a whopping 800 percent as tickets of $46 are now going for nearly $346.

Last month, Rock announced his proposed tour on Instagram titled "Chris Rock: Ego Death World," with a poster of his tour dates. He captioned the post,

"Ego Death World Tour” 2022 all-new material introspective, very personal, and very funny. I can’t wait to show you. The link for tickets is in my bio."

These upcoming shows will mark the star's comeback in recent years after his "Total Blackout Tour" in 2017 and his "Chris Rock: Tamborine" stand-up special in 2018, according to Variety.

Rock will perform six times at Boston's Wilbur Theatre from March 30 to April 1. He will launch his "Ego Death World Tour" on April 2, starting with the North American leg.

The first location will feature over half of the scheduled sites for the live show. Fans can expect 38 trips in Chicago, New York, Denver, Las Vegas, Toronto, Oakland, and Seattle.

Rock will continue his stand-up comedy tour with three shows. The first two will occur at UBC’s Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre and DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC.

The "Chris Rock: Ego Death World Tour" will end at the renowned Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The entire event is under the production of Live Nation Entertainment.

The company was founded in America and promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainment in the United States and internationally.

Rock is also active in the acting scene. He starred as Loy Cannon in Season 4 of FX’s award-winning series “Fargo.” 

The star is also producing “Spiral,” a reboot of the latest “Saw” franchise film, and will also direct an untitled movie in 2023.