Not just Will Smith won’t be attending the Oscars the following year. Rock will not be attending the event on his own, in contrast to Smith, who was prohibited by the Academy from going for ten years for notoriously hitting presenter Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars: The comedian informed his Phoenix audience that he had already declined a request to host the awards ceremony the following year, according to the Arizona Republic.
The comedian informed his Phoenix audience that he had already declined a request to host the awards ceremony the following year, according to the Arizona Republic.
He continued by saying that he turned down a Super Bowl advertisement that wasn’t identified but, as one could surmise, made reference to the slap.
Although Smith issued a five-minute apologetic video in July, Rock has barely mentioned the event a handful of times since it occurred.
He informed a Boston crowd on April 1 during his first performance following the smack that “I don’t have a bunch of shit about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend. I’m still kind of processing what happened…. At some point, I’ll talk about that shit. And it will be serious and funny.”
When asked to attend the Oscars again, he responded on August 28, that it would be like asking Nicole Brown Simpson to return to the restaurant she ate at where she got murder. This was an early effort at the humorous aspect.
Rock confirmed what we all suspected after seeing the startling incident last March when someone in the audience shouted for him to “Talk about it!” later in his performance: that slap stung. Not surprising, given that Muhammad Ali’s impersonator delivered it.
Rock joked, “He’s larger than me.” “A fight between Will Smith and I would not be approved by the state of Nevada.”
After the slap went viral, rumors quickly circulated that Rock may return to host the Academy Awards, a position he previously held in 2016 and 2005. Hollywood is like a good comeback tale. If he were to host once more, he would join a select group of celebrities, such as Steve Martin, Whoopi Goldberg, and Billy Crystal, who have done it three or more times.
