Could Chris Rock take the Oscars hosting gig for a third time? In his own words, “you never know.”
Three years after Will Smith infamously slapped Rock onstage at the 2022 Oscars for joking about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, the comedian attended the Vanity Fair Oscars Party. While there, the Rustin star chatted with E! News about whether he’d consider returning as Oscars host following the incident.
“You never know. This is what I would say, the most miserable people on earth are people that can’t forgive,” he explained in the video below. “And not just people, you have to forgive yourself sometimes. So, hey, you never know.”
“I live in forgiveness,” Rock added. “True love starts at forgiveness.” Smith, who took home the Best Actor trophy in 2022, apologized for the incident multiple times, reportedly including at least one private message to Rock. The comedian later addressed the scandal by poking fun at The Smiths’ extramarital relationships during his stand-up shows and directly tackled “the slap” in his Chris Rock: Selective Outrage special the following year. “It still hurts! I Got ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ears,” he joked. “But I’m not a victim, baby…I took that hit like [Manny] Pacquiao.” Following the 2022 incident, Smith received a ten-year ban from the Academy Awards and related ceremony events.
In a recent comedy show at Virginia Beach’s Funny Bone, Tony Rock expressed his lingering frustration about the infamous 2022 Oscars incident where Will Smith slapped his brother Chris Rock.
As seen in Instagram footage from his performance, Tony told the crowd, “I can’t leave until I do this last thing on my list of things to do… I have to get Will Smith. Oh yeah. Y’all thought that shit was fucking over? That shit ain’t fucking over. I’m just laying low right now…”
