Chris Rock has spoken for the first time about Will Smith slapping him across the face during the 2022 Academy Awards while workshopping material for his forthcoming live Netflix special.
In preparation for his upcoming special, Selective Outrage, the comedian reportedly talked about the incident that dominated much of the headlines last year during a January set in Charleston, South Carolina.
According to The Wall Street Journal, he said, “The thing people want to know… did it hurt? Hell yeah, it hurt.”
The 58-year-old also referenced Smith’s role in the 2001 film Ali and his 1991 movie New Jack City: “He played Muhammad Ali! I played Pookie!”
The US Sun reported that Rock also quipped, “Even in animated movies, I’m a zebra, he’s a f***ing shark.”
Continuing to make light of the incident, Rock even referenced one of Smith’s classic hits, Summertime, joking, “I got hit so hard I heard Summertime ringing in my ears.”
Although the TV star has previously addressed the controversy, he’s never spoken or joked so frankly about it until now.
Rock’s special is set to be streamed live on Netflix on March 4 from Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre, a week before this year’s Academy Awards broadcast March 13.
Last year, Smith’s win for Best Actor award, for his leading role in King Richard, was overshadowed by his behaviour earlier in the ceremony.
The star stunned the global audience when he got up from his seat during the live broadcast to storm the stage and slap Rock across the face for making a joke at the expense of his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, while presenting the award for Best Documentary Feature.
Following the incident, there were some calls for him to return his Oscar.
However, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences instead banned the actor from attending the Oscars for the next 10 years.
He has since apologised several times for his actions.
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