Chris Rock Reacts to Audience Member Cursing out Will Smith During Comedy Show
Following this past Sunday's controversial Oscars moment that found Will Smith slapping presenter Chris Rock on stage for a comment the comedian made about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, Rock is looking to keep on the bright side of things. The 57-year-old actor and comedian took to the stage for a standup show on Thursday in Boston where he responded to an audience member cursing out the new Oscar winner.
"F— Will Smith!" they said at The Wilbur Theatre. While Rock did not previously engage with audience members chanting Smith's name during Wednesday night's show, the Grown Ups actor decided to speak out this time, but just briefly: "No, no, no, no, no," he replied.
Rock had previously spoken about the global television event during his show on Wednesday night, stating he was "still kind of processing" what happened at that moment. He also told the crowd that he hadn't talked to anyone, despite what news reports and unconfirmed sourcing have mentioned. "Other than the weird thing, life is pretty good," Rock said between his first of two sets.
In the days following the peculiar altercation between Smith and Rock, PEOPLE states TickPick reports show Rock's upcoming tour dates have seen a spike in popularity for ticket sales. However, he made it clear that he will not be talking about it any further. "If you came to hear that, I'm not ... I had like a whole show I wrote before this weekend," Rock said. Instead, the SNL alum used much of his time on stage to roast celebrities and politicians among the likes of Meghan Markle, the Kardashians, as well as President Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and former reality TV star turned president, Donald Trump.
While plenty of fans have shown their support to Rock for Smith's strange outburst, it is still one of the most viral videos of the week on social media and the news circuit that has many baffled and the Oscars producer speaking out. In an interview with Good Morning America Friday, the event's producer Will Packer revealed what went down behind the scenes of the 94th Academy Awards after Best Actor winner Smith slapped Rock for teasing his wife Pinkett-Smith's buzzed haircut and comparing it to G.I. Jane.
"Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2, can't wait to see it," Rock said. It was at that moment that Smith promptly stood up from his seat at the front of the venue and took to the stage, slapping the comedian across the face before returning to his seat to sit down, yelling at Rock to keep his wife's name out of his mouth. Packer revealed to GMA that the Los Angeles Police Department was standing by to arrest Smith after the incident.
"That is an absolute fact," Packer said. "The LAPD made it clear: 'We will do whatever you want us to do, and one of the options is that we will go and arrest him right now.'" Packer, like so many of the audience members, initially "thought it was a bit" planned with Rock but it all changed once they noticed Smith yelling at the stage. "[It] was such vitriol," he recalled of the event. "I remember thinking: 'Oh no, no no, not like this. Not like this.' But I've got people, everybody's still in my ear, you know, saying: 'OK, what are we doing on camera two? Is he still up there? Are we doing the best documentary category?' And Chris was keeping his head when everybody was losing theirs."