Chris Rock was met with multiple standing ovations as he performed for the first time since the Will Smith slapping incident at last Sunday’s Oscars. The comedian opened the show in Boston by telling the audience wouldn’t be talking much about the incident.
“I don’t have like a bunch of s*** about what happened. So if you came to hear that, I’m not—I had, like, a whole show I wrote before this weekend,”Rock said.
The show had intense security.
Inside Edition correspondent Les Trent was at the show at 10 p.m., where everyone had to keep their phones in a locked case.
Rock was filmed by someone in the crowd. TikTok uploaded the video.
“I’m still kinda processing what happened. So, at some point I’ll talk about that s*** and it’ll be serious and it’ll be funny,”Rock spoke out about the Oscars incident.
In the meantime, Wednesday night’s Academy statement affirmed Will Smith “was asked to leave the ceremony and refused.” It was a request, not a demand, and it was made backstage to Smith’s publicist.
Variety disproves this claim. It reports that Smith was found in chaos following the incident. “never formally urged to leave the show”And that “mixed messages”These were sent.
Meredith O’Sullivan Wasson was Smith’s publicist. Smith was seen speaking to her during a commercial break.
Smith received the Best Actor award 45 minutes later. His publicist waited for Smith as he walked off the stage and gave him a long, loving hug before escorting him away.