Chris Rock already has some good news to ease the sting from being slapped in the face by Will Smith at the Oscars on Sunday. The viral moment has reportedly caused an upsurge in ticket sales for Rock’s next few live comedy shows. This will mean more money and more seats filled for Rock, though it may also increase the pressure to say something witty about the whole fiasco.
Rock and Smith had the undisputed highlight of the night on Sunday when Smith slapped Rock on stage in the middle of the award ceremony. The tense moment on live TV quickly created increased interest in Rock’s live stand-up tour according to a report by Variety. The comedian starts a string of six shows in Boston, Massachusetts from Wednesday, March 30 to Friday, April 1, and all of them have reportedly sold out. He then officially sets off on his “Ego Death World Tour,” where more seats were still available before the Oscars.
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It’s difficult to confirm if the Boston shows were already sold out or not, but you can see the increased interest in the tour dates pretty clearly on secondhand websites like TickPick. The TickPick official Twitter account wrote: “We sold more tickets to see Chris Rock overnight than we did in the past month combined” on Monday morning. Prices on those tickets rose from $46 on March 18 to $341 and up this week.
While these are technically resale tickets, it’s still a clear sign of increased interest in Rock’s shows. While he himself may not profit off of these upsold tickets, he will certainly appreciate having more people in the audience. Live comedy typically works better with a packed crowd, so if the secondhand sellers weren’t planning on attending it is ultimately a good thing for Rock that they’re selling their spots.
Rock will travel to 30 cities throughout North America to start his world tour, with 38 performances in total. That leg of the tour wraps up on Nov. 17 at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles – the same place where the Oscars were held on Sunday night. After that Rock is expected to take the show overseas.
For those catching up, Rock was presenting the award for Best Documentary Feature when his altercation with Smith broke out on Sunday night. He made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who was wearing a bald hairstyle. Rock – who has worked with Pinkett Smith before – said: “Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2. Can’t wait to see it.”
Smith then walked up on the stage and slapped Rock forcefully in the face. Returning to his seat, he screamed at the comedian: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f-ing mouth!” Smith was not removed from the theater and was given the award for Best Actor about an hour later.
So far, Rock has not commented publicly on the altercation since it took place. Smith has posted a public apology online. An internal review at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is underway.
