Comedian Chris Rock reportedly has declined an offer to host the 2023 Academy Awards following the infamous slap incident with Golden Globe winner Will Smith.
During Rock’s show at Arizona Financial Theater in Phoenix, he reportedly said he was asked to return and host next year’s Oscars ceremony, but declined the offer.
According to the Arizona Republic, Chris Rock went to great lengths in comparing his returning to the Academy with O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.
“Rock compared returning to the Oscars like returning to the scene of a crime, referencing the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, whose ex-wife’s killing began with her leaving a pair of eyeglasses at an Italian restaurant,” the magazine reported.
The article continued, “Rock said returning to the award ceremony would be like asking Nicole Brown Simpson ‘to go back to the restaurant.’ ”
Several individuals on Twitter found the 57-year-old’s joke not only distasteful, but unfunny and expressed a bit of understanding as to why Smith reacted the way he did at the 2022 Academy Awards.
“The more Chris Rock talks, the more you begin to see why Will Smith smacked fire outta him”
“Yes, it’s utterly tasteless, unfunny, and thus, very much a Chris Rock joke.. But also, it makes no d— sense. The restaurant wasn’t even the scene of the crime. In fact, one could argue that if Nicole went back to the restaurant that night, she and Ron Goldman would’ve lived.”
“If Will Smith stays quiet long enough, the world will understand why he slapped Chris Rock.”
Chris Rock and Will Smith’s encounter at the Oscars has been a non-stop topic of discussion that has made people all over the world choose a side. Smith’s controversial reaction led to him resigning from the Academy and banned from attending any Oscars ceremonry for the next 10 years. He recently uploaded an apology video to Rock and noted that his behavior was “unacceptable.”
Rock has not yet responded to Smith’s apology, but has since made multiple jokes surrounding the event during his stand-up comedy shows.
