Will Smith's slap to Chris Rock shook the entire entertainment industry.
Nearly two weeks after the Oscars slap incident, US comic Chris Rock has joked that he got his “hearing back” after Will Smith hit him onstage. Rock made the quip on Friday during his Ego Death World Tour stand-up show in Indio, California. According to People magazine, the comedian also stated that he was staying silent about the incident until he is compensated for his troubles.
"I'm okay. I have a whole show, and I'm not talking about that until I get paid," Chris Rock told his audience during his show.
He then went on to joke, “Life is good. I got my hearing back,” the report quoted him as saying to California-based Palm Springs Desert Sun.
It is to be mentioned that this is Rock's most recent comment related to the incident that left everybody in shock. At the Oscars 2022, Will Smith got up from his seat, walked on stage and slapped the comedian after he joked that his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith's tightly cut hair. Rock had said that Pinkett-Smith "could star in GI Jane 2", a reference to her shaved head. Notably, Smith's wife has alopecia, which results in hair loss, and she publicly announced it in 2018.
So far, Rock has declined to discuss the incident in-depth, saying that he is still working through what happened. Will Smith, on the other hand, shared a public apology to the Academy and the comedian on his Instagram page and admitted that his action was wrong. In the post, he stated that he reacted emotionally to Rock's joke about Pinkett-Smith at the ceremony.
Since the incident, Will Smith has resigned from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, which hosts the Oscars. The Academy even banned the Hollywood actor from attending its events for the next 10 years. It mentioned that the actor shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs in person or virtually.