Chris Rock sets record straight on Will Smith Oscars slap: ‘I’m not a victim’

After remaining mostly silent for months, Chris Rock has finally spoken out about the shocking moment he was slapped on stage by Will Smith at the Oscars.

Chris Rock has finally broken his silence regarding the slap heard around the world: “Yeah, that sh*t hurt, motherf***er – but I shook that sh*t off and went to work the next day.”

After remaining mostly silent for months, the comedian-actor addressed getting smacked by Will Smith at the 2022 Academy Awards while headlining stand-up shows in New York and New Jersey over the weekend, reports the New York Post.

“Anyone who says ‘words hurt’ has never been punched in the face,” Rock, 57, declared while performing alongside Kevin Hart and Dave Chappelle at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, according to ET Online.

Also during the event, Hart brought a live goat onstage and introduced it as “Will Smith”.

Rock elaborated during his set the following day at PNC Bank Arts Centre in Holmdel, New Jersey, during a bit in which he riffed about people being overly sensitive, Us Magazine reported. “I’m not a victim, motherf***er,” he declared. “I don’t go to the hospital for a paper cut.”

The slap that was felt around the world. Picture: Robyn Beck/AFP

The comedian was visibly stunned. Picture: Robyn Beck/AFP

This marked the first time that Rock had addressed the incident, which occurred at the 2022 Oscars in March, when Smith, who would go on to win Best Actor for King Richard later in the evening, slapped Rock after the comedian made a bald joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia.

Rock had previously remained largely quiet on the fiasco, only referencing it briefly onstage over the past couple months.

“I’m OK, if anybody was wondering,” Rock said during a show in May at the UK’s Royal Albert Hall, according to the Times of London. “I got most of my hearing back.”

He added that he still wouldn’t be talking about the altercation between him and Smith, 53.

“People expect me to talk about the bulls**t. I’m not going to talk about it right now. I’ll get to it eventually – on Netflix,” he said with a laugh.

The comedian previously stated that he wouldn’t be talking about the slap until he sees a cheque with his name on it.

“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.

However, just a week before his casino appearance, the Everybody Hates Chris creator said to fans during a surprise visit to the Comedy Cellar in New York City, “Lower your expectations. I’m not going to address that sh*t.”

Smith, meanwhile, has remained silent on the subject, although comedian and friend Kevin Hart told Entertainment Tonight this week that the Ali actor is in a better place since the incident.

“Will is apologetic, you know, he’s in a better space, of course, than what he was after,” the comedian said. “People are human and as humans sometimes we make mistakes.”

He added: “So it’s not about talking about the past, it’s about acknowledging the present and doing your best to move forward.”

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Chris Rock sets record straight on Will Smith Oscars slap: ‘I’m not a victim’