Chris Rock felt the sting from an Oscar travesty, Will Smith saw his impeccable reputation marred by a lack self-control, and the Academy Awards had to shamefully do nothing and now face the threat of expulsion. Tonight proved that ticket scalpers were the only winners. They landed balcony seats worth upwards to $1000. Many of them were bought and paid by journalists, and many of us laughed when security locked our phones and took us out to write or text from our Apple Watches. Where was this crew when Will Smith declined the Academy’s request he leave the premises after assaulting Rock minutes before being awarded the Best Actor Oscar?
Rock performed his first standup comedy act since the Oscars tonight, and he ducked. Rock declined to use the embarrassing episode of his standup comedy performance as comic material. Dressed all in white, Rock did make sure to bask in a very long standing ovation — around two and one-half minutes by my count, and longer than the one that Smith received when his name was called in the Best Actor category. Rock ended the ovation by saying: “let me do a show,” Rock asked the crowd how was their weekend., He had little else to say about being on the business end of Smith’s open hand slap, telling the crowd he had actually written jokes for a comedy routine before that other stuff occurred. He suggested that he might resolve the controversy over time, but he appeared unsure whether it would be best to just move on. Maybe he’ll feel different at the later show tonight, but I ran out of money getting into that first show. If he changes his mind, that’s fine.
Comedy stars rally around Chris Rock after Will Smith’s Oscars incident, express concern about copycat violence
Rock then entered a lively routine. It included sex from Candice, a nasty woman, to being a dad raising his daughters to Covid and his plans for a vasectomy. Wow, he didn’t mince words about the second. In fact, had Prince Harry been in the front row as Rock railed about his wife’s skin color…well, never mind. Rock claimed that Rock feigned outrage at the Royal Family’s racism. “what the fu*k did you expect? Didn’t they create colonialism?”Rock also attacked politically correct companies that promote environmental responsibility, such as planting trees or other good deeds. In talking about seeing a Subaru car commercial that promised with each sale to donate $250 to the buyer’s favorite charity. Rock stated that he would prefer for the company to reduce the price of the car by $250. The show seemed brief (Rick Ingraham opened with a routine that involved him insulting the Bostonians in the front rows), but on a day when the Academy was deciding how hard to punish his combatant in that one-sided weekend battle, Rock can look forward to more crowds lining the pockets of the scalpers who must love how the Academy Awards has restored his status as the hottest comic in the land.
Ron Howard Responds To Will Smith’s and Chris Rock’s Oscars Snafu “I Wouldn’t Have Expected This Kind Of Behavior”