Chris Rock is using comedy to address his Oscars slap from Will Smith.
During a standup set on Thursday at London’s Royal Albert Hall, the 57-year-old comedian briefly joked about the lasting effects of Smith’s strike at the 2022 Academy Awards in March.
“I’m okay, if anybody was wondering,” Rock said, according to U.K. outlet The Telegraph. “Got most of my hearing back.”
“Don’t expect me to talk about the bulls—,” he also said, The Telegraph reports. “I’ll talk about it at some point … on Netflix.”
“Your tickets were expensive, but not that expensive,” Rock reportedly joked.
During the Oscars, Smith, 53, walked onstage and struck Rock in response to a joke the comedian made about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head. (Pinkett Smith, 50, has been open about living with alopecia.)
After hitting Rock, Smith returned to his seat and shouted, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f—ing mouth!” to a stunned Rock, who moved the show forward by presenting an award after being initially speechless.
Since the incident, Smith — who went on to win Best Actor, for his performance in King Richard — has publicly apologized to Rock, saying that he “reacted emotionally” because the “joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear.”
The star has since resigned from the Academy, which has also banned the actor from attending its events for the next 10 years.
Smith also has been working on himself, as a source told PEOPLE last month he traveled to India for spiritual purposes, to practice yoga and meditation.
While Rock hasn’t addressed the incident at length thus far, he did reference it earlier this month as he sprung to Dave Chappelle’s side after Chappelle, 48, was attacked onstage near the end of his performance during the Netflix Is a Joke Festival at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
“I thought that was Will Smith!” Rock said of the assailant.
Wanda Sykes, who co-hosted this year’s Oscars, said during a comedy stop on Thursday in Orlando, Florida, that she is “still traumatized” and gets “emotional” talking about the slap.
“I couldn’t believe he was still sitting there, like an assh—,” continued Sykes, 58, referring to how Smith remained seated during the ceremony, before later winning the Best Actor award. “Shouldn’t you be sitting there with a lawyer or LAPD, motherf—–?”
Added the star, “I hope he gets his s— together. Until then, f— him.”
[via]
