Chris Rock has joked with fans that he finally has ‘most of my hearing back’ after being slapped by Will Smith at the Oscars.
The funnyman, 57, appeared on stage Thursday at the Royal Albert Hall in London, as part of his Ego Death comedy tour.
Teasing the 5,000 ticketholders who were anticipating an array of Smith jokes, he opened the show saying: ‘I’m okay, if anyone was wondering… I got most of my hearing back,’ The Times of London reported.
The audience was soon left disappointed as Rock continued: ‘People expect me to talk about the bulls**t, I’m not going to talk about it right now.’
Smith, 53, had brutally smacked Rock at the Oscars in March after the comedian told a joke about the actor’s wife Jada Pinkett-Smith.
Rock made a GI Jane joke, referencing Pinkett-Smith’s ongoing battle with alopecia, which prompted her husband to storm the stage and viciously slap the comedian.
The violent outburst caused an uproar across social media and resulted in Smith being banned from the Academy Awards for 10 years.
Chris Rock has been touring the world on his Ego Death tour and on Thursday at Royal Albert Hall in London he discussed Will Smith, abortion, his dating life, and Meghan Markle at the first of his four shows in the UK
Rock, 57, said he did not want to talk about the moment Smith, 53, slapped him at the Ocars (pictured) but continues to drop tidbits here and there on his Ego Death world tour
Rock did, however, indicate to fans he would ‘eventually’ talk about it ‘on Netflix’ and claimed he wouldn’t discuss the moment until he ‘got paid’ for it and saw a check with his name on it.
At Royal Albert Hall on Thursday, he fueled interest in the incident again by finishing his talk of the banned actor, saying: ‘Anyone who says words hurt has never been punched in the face.’
Rock also brought up the the moment during a surprise Dave Chappelle show in Los Angeles, where the pair both discussed their recent altercations on stage.
Chappelle – who was brutally attacked by Isaiah Lee, 23, at a Hollywood Bowl show in early May – jokingly told Rock he at least got ‘smacked by someone of repute.’
‘I got smacked by a homeless guy with leaves in his hair,’ Chappelle said on May 5.
Rock jokingly responded: ‘I got smacked by the softest n***a that ever rapped.’
Other celebrities, such as Family Feud host Steve Harvey, 65, even got in on the fun, telling students at Georgia State University that Jada Pinkett-Smith would have move if Smith had slapped him.
‘You slap [Texas megachurch bishop] TD Jakes, he’ll turn the other cheek. You slap me? If you sit back in your seat, Jada would have to move out of the way. That’s the type of Christian I am.
‘I’m a Christian, but I’m really undeveloped. I don’t have high-level Christianity. On a scale of 1 to 10, I’m like a 2. That’s the level of Christianity I can work on,’ he said.
He, like many other, slammed Smith’s violent reaction as a ‘punk move’ and said he ‘lost a lot of respect for him.’
Rock recently joked with the 5,000-strong audience at Royal Albert Hall that he got back ‘most of my hearing’ after being slapped at the Oscars in March
Rock recently joined Dave Chappelle (pictured together at the Hollywood Bowl) twice on stage at two shows, joking about Smith twice
At the Albert Hall show on Thursday – the first of four British shows – Rock discussed other big topics, such as the upcoming Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision – joking that he paid for enough of them, The Times reported – and made fun of his dating life and Meghan Markle’s ‘in-law shit.’
He reportedly claimed it wasn’t ‘racist’ for the Royal Family to inquiry how dark the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s children would be because other black people would want to know too, The Times reported.
He even joked about UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 57, who was recently seen partying with his Downing Street collogues during lockdown. Rock said he ‘would like to party with Boris Johnson. [But] I wouldn’t let him run a McDonald’s though.’
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