![Chris Rock](./media_1d7feb1357573cf2149c6d3846c494fa42811b7e6.jpeg?width=750&format=jpeg&optimize=medium)
Chris Rock is opening up about Will Smith smacking him at the 2022 Oscars. After being tight-lipped for months, Rock gave his take on the incident while headlining stand-up shows in New York and New Jersey over the weekend. He said, “Anyone who says ‘words hurt’ has never been punched in the face” at Madison Square Garden on Saturday (July 23), alongside Kevin Hart and Dave Chappelle. During the same show, Hart gifted Rock with a pet goat named Will Smith.
Regarding the slap, Rock said, “Yeah, that shit hurt, motherfucker. But I shook that shit off and went to work the next day.” The 57-year-old added, “People expect me to talk about the bullshit. I’m not going to talk about it right now. I’ll get to it eventually — on Netflix,” he said with a laugh. The Grown Ups star previously stated that he doesn’t plan to speak on the matter unless he sees a coin. “I’m OK. I have a whole show, and I’m not talking about that until I get paid,” he told his audience during a comedy set at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California, last month.
During his set, the following day at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey, Rock addressed the people he felt were being overly sensitive. He declared, “I’m not a victim, motherfucker. I don’t go to the hospital for a paper cut.”
The comedian presented Smith with the Oscars for Best Actor for his performance in King Richard. Rock cracked a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith’s lack of hair, and many thought the joke was insensitive because she suffers from alopecia. Her facial gestures suggested she didn’t appreciate the joke and Smith subsequently got out of his seat, walked across the stage, and showed Rock what the five fingers said to the face. He has since apologized and stepped down from the Recording Academy.