Chris Rock Doesn’t Support Will Smith’s “Hostage” Apology
Chris Rock addressed Will Smith’s YouTube apology video that he posted back in July and said he wasn’t impressed.
According to Deadline, Rock’s response to the video happened at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday (Sept. 3), a part of his European stand-up tour with Dave Chappelle, making it the first time he directly addressed the video publicly.
“F**k your hostage video,” Rock said.
He previously described Smith’s slap as having a stinging effect.
“Yes that sh*t hurt. He played Ali. I can’t even play Floyd Mayweather,” the comedian noted.
In late August of this year, Rock was under fire after a joke about the death of Nicole Brown Simpson, wife of O.J. Simpson didn't sit too well with her sister Tanya Brown.
Rock performed stand-up at the Arizona Financial Theatre in downtown Phoenix, where he reportedly poked fun at the possibility of returning to the Academy Awards after the viral Will Smith slap incident earlier this year. According to Rock, returning to the show would be like asking Simpson "to go back to the restaurant" where she left her eyeglasses before she was brutally murdered, the Arizona Republic reported.
Simpson’s sister described the joke as “BEYOND distasteful” in an Instagram post responding to Rock’s comments.
Chris Rock recently declined an offer to host the 2023 Academy Awards in light of the slapping incident. The Academy banned Smith from the Oscars for a decade after he walked on stage to slap the comedian following a" G.I. Jane" joke directed toward his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, at the 2022 show.
