Chris Rock tells audience he's 'still kind of processing' Oscar slap
In his first comedy show since getting slapped by Will Smith at the Oscars on Sunday, Chris Rock told a cheering crowd in Boston that he is "still kind of processing what happened."
Rock, who didn't name Smith during his set, only briefly mentioned the incident; he started Wednesday night's show by quipping, "How was your weekend?" He told the audience upfront he "had like a whole show I wrote before this weekend," and "other than the weird thing, life is pretty good."
The audience gave Rock multiple standing ovations that lasted several minutes, and an audience member told The Associated Press that at times, Rock almost seemed embarrassed by the attention, and at one point appeared to be getting emotional.
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During the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, Smith walked onstage and slapped Rock after the comedian made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Later in the evening, Smith won the Best Actor award for his performance in King Richard, and in his speech he apologized to the Academy. Smith released a statement the next day telling Rock he was sorry for what happened, calling his behavior "inexcusable" and "wrong."
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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