After Will Smith famously slapped him onstage, Chris Rock reportedly told the audience during a Phoenix stand-up show that he had been offered the chance to host the Oscars again in 2023.
According to the Arizona Republic, Rock refused. According to the local media outlet, he compared it to returning to a crime scene or asking Nicole Brown Simpson “to go back to the restaurant.” In the aftermath, he also declined a Super Bowl commercial.
An audience member asked Rock to “talk about it” during his roughly 90-minute comedy set, and he did so “briefly and early.” The 57-year-old admitted to his admirers that the insult from the actor who played Muhammad Ali did hurt.
“He’s bigger than me. The state of Nevada would not sanction a fight between me and Will Smith,” he’s quoted as saying.
The president of entertainment at ABC, Craig Erwich, was quoted as saying in May that he was “open to the idea of Rock hosting the show” the following year.
The March 2022 slap that sparked a trillion blog posts is still making headlines today. Just in the past month, Willow Smith has delved into the subject, Zo Kravitz has expressed regret over how she responded to the incident, and Kevin Hart has given Rock a goat named Will Smith onstage at Madison Square Garden.