What is on Chris Rock’s mind?
It’s a simple but valid question the world is asking after Will Smith beat the comedian during Sunday’s Oscars live on TV. The now infamous hit has been the talk of the day on every corner of the internet and television in the 48 hours since – but Rock has remained noticeably silent. Until Wednesday night, when Rock publicly addressed the issue at a standup show in Boston.
“Wow, okay!” he exclaimed as he took the stage in an all white suit. The crowd’s standing ovation continued to thunder before Rock made another attempt to get the ball rolling for the evening: “Yo, let me do the show!”
After a few more moments of applause, Rock immediately turned to the elephant in the room.
“How was your weekend?” he began, triggering a wave of laughter. “I don’t have a lot on my mind about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show that I wrote ahead of this weekend. I’m still processing what happened. So someday I’m gonna talk about this shit. And it’s going to be serious and fun.”
A bystander then chanted “Fuck Will Smith!” before Rock continued.
“I’m going to tell a few jokes. It’s nice just being outside,” he said before beginning his material.
At least a dozen journalists from the local station had lined up in front of the theater two hours before the performance, wrapped up in the 30-degree New England weather.
“This is crazy,” exclaimed one viewer as he walked past countless cameras and on-air reporters around 6 p.m
Before the performance, local religious leaders gathered outside the Wilbur Theater to make a statement about “the incident regarding our brothers” and “send a message that violence is not the way to resolve conflict.”
“This is an educational moment, so let’s end the cycle of underreported violence in the black community,” said Kevin C. Peterson, founder of the New Democracy Coalition, a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization focused on civic engagement . to a small group of reporters.
The organizers of the Wilbur were not happy with the crowds that gathered outside.
“We have to get ready for a show,” a Wilbur employee said as he attempted to attach ropes outside of the venue. “We’re trying to work now.”
Boston-based Sam Wisnia, 24, thought it was a “fortunate coincidence” that Rock made his first public appearance not far from his hometown. He got tickets Monday morning after the Oscars and acted early enough to only pay $70.
“I wasn’t watching [the Oscars] live, but I watched the clip a lot,” Wisnia said. “I hope he leads [his set] with the whole situation and he can find the humor in it.”
Another Bostonian Jesse Setaro, 32, saw an Instagram ad for Rock’s show “after he was punched.” He paid $225 and thinks it’s a steal compared to what others have paid.
Setaro was unimpressed by the rush of reporters in front of the theater: “Why shouldn’t they be here? It’s a historic night.”
Rock’s reticence may be why ticket sales for Rock’s stand-up comedy tour have been nearly impossible. Coincidentally, Rock has been booked to play several shows in Boston starting Wednesday before embarking on his “Ego Death World Tour” next month, which kicks off in New Jersey. It’s the first time Rock has toured in five years.
His four-day stint in Boston began Wednesday at the 1,000-seat Wilbur Theater, with a sold-out show at 7:30 p.m. and another at 10 p.m. COVID-19 vaccinations were required for participants.
Tickets quickly went up on Ticketmaster and were resold on StubHub and other ticket exchanges and resale sites at astronomically high prices. Original prices started at $49.50, but after the shocking incident at the Oscars, they went up to $800-$8,000 on secondary sites. Admission to the 7:30 p.m. show was particularly coveted, as many believed it would be Rock’s first public response to Smith’s outburst of violence.
A StubHub representative said the site has seen “more than 25x daily sales” over the past two days compared to last month. “It’s incredibly unusual to see the surge that we’ve seen,” said Mike Silveira, spokesman for StubHub. Likewise the online ticket dealer TickPick wrote Monday on Twitter“We sold more tickets to see Chris Rock overnight than we did in the past month combined.”
The incident in question happened in the middle of the 94th Annual Academy Awards, when Rock presented the Best Documentary category on stage. The comedian began ranting about A-list celebrities in the audience before deviating from the script to make a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and her shaved head. (The actress has alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss.)
“Jada, I love you: ‘GI Jane 2’ can’t wait to see it,” Rock said, referring to the 1997 action film in which Demi Moore’s character has a shaved head.
Smith initially laughed at the jab. But after reaching out to Pinkett Smith and noticing her epic eye roll at the joke, he quickly switched gears and took to the stage to smack Rock in the face. At first everyone – including Rock – thought the fuss was a bit, but it soon became clear that wasn’t the case.
“Oh, wow,” Rock said as Smith walked offstage. “Wow. Will Smith just blew me away.”
After returning to his seat, Smith yelled, “Keep my wife’s name out of your damn mouth.”
Rock replied, “Wow dude. It was a ‘GI Jane’ joke.” That prompted Smith to yell in a louder octave, “Keep my wife’s name out of your damn mouth!”
Rock appeared on stage, visibly shaken, and struggled to collect his thoughts. “It was, uh, the greatest night in television history,” he said.
Shortly after the incident, Smith was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance as tennis coach Richard Williams in King Richard, a feel-good sports drama in which he plays the father of tennis icons Venus and Serena Williams. In a tearful acceptance speech, Smith apologized to the Academy and his other best actor nominees, but he refrained from mentioning rock. In his remarks, he also attempted to connect the controversy to his screen character in King Richard.
“Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family,” Smith said. “Art imitates life. I look like the crazy dad, just like they said about Richard Williams.”
Later in his speech he said: “In this business you have to be able to have people treat you with disrespect. And you have to smile and pretend that’s okay.”
On Monday, Smith apologized to Rock on Instagram. “I want to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I’m embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.” He also said, “Jokes at my expense are part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s health was too much for me and I reacted emotionally .”
Rock declined to press charges, but the academy has launched an investigation into the situation to “explore further action and consequences,” a spokesman said.
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