It takes a lot to rattle Chris Rock.
The Brooklyn, New York-raised comedian, 57, is finally moving on after Will Smith slapping him at this year’s Oscars, an eyewitness told Us Weekly after his show Sunday at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey.
“Anyone who says words hurt has never been punched in the face,” said Rock, according to the source.
In addition to referring to the newly minted Academy Award winner, 53, as “Suge Smith” — which appears to be a nod to Suge Knight, the Death Row Records CEO who is behind bars — Rock said: “I’m not a victim, motherf—er.”
“Yeah, that s— hurt, motherf—er,” Rock reportedly said. “But I shook that s— off and went to work the next day. ... I don’t go to the hospital for a paper cut.”
Rock has largely stayed mum about The Slap Heard Round the World, which took place back in late March when he joked at the Oscars that Jada Pinkett Smith’s shorter hairstyle resembled “G.I. Jane 2.” Smith then took to the stage to both slap Rock and warned him to “keep my wife’s name out your f—ing mouth.” Pinkett Smith, 50, openly suffers from alopecia.
It wasn’t long before Smith returned to the stage to accept the best actor Oscar for his starring role in “King Richard,” an achievement decades in the making which resulted in a controversial standing ovation. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, amid backlash, initiated a formal review into the incident and by April 8 banned the actor from the Oscars and all other Academy events and programs for the decade.
———
