Chris Rock has no desire to return to the Oscars just yet after he was infamously slapped by Will Smith during this year’s award ceremony in March.
Speaking to the crowd at a stand-up show in Phoenix on Sunday night, the comedian said the Hollywood Academy asked him to host it again for the third time, but he refused.
“Chris Rock said he was asked to host next year’s Academy Awards at his Sunday night show at the Arizona Financial Theater, and he turned down the offer,” a witness shared with the Arizona Republic.
“He also stated that he was offered the opportunity to do a Super Bowl commercial which he also turned down” , he added.
Rock allegedly insinuated that the incident he starred in with Will left him traumatized by explaining why he rejected said proposal to be the master of ceremonies of the event in 2023.
Chris Rock compared going back to the Oscars to going back to a crime scene
And it is that Chris made a reference to the OJ Simpson murder trial in 1995, pointing out that it would be like asking the late Nicole Brown Simpson “to go back to the restaurant” where his mother had left a pair of glasses the night of her death.
Rock said the Smith’s own slap hurt him by referencing the actor’s role as Muhammed Ali in the 2001 movie, ‘Ali,’ explaining, “He’s bigger than me. The state of Nevada would not sanction a fight between Will Smith and me”.
At the last Oscar gala, the past 10 in March, Will Smith reacted violently to a joke by Chris Rock about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s illness, causing him to get up from his seat, walk onstage at the Dolby Theater and slap Rock in the face.
As a consequence, Smith was expelled from events related to the Academy for 10 years and has already apologized on a couple of occasions.