By Maureen Lee Lenker
There’s no shortage of discourse about the now infamous moment at Sunday night’s Oscars where Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in response to a joke the comedian made about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
But there is one person we had yet to hear from, and that was Rock himself. On Wednesday night, he publicly addressed the matter briefly at his first comedy show since the incident. According to PEOPLE, while performing at The Wilbur in Boston, Rock told the audience, “I’m still processing what happened.”
The comedian first made a nod to the incident by walking out to a standing ovation and kicking off the night by saying, “What’s up, Boston? How was your weekend?!”
Rock didn’t say much about the situation beyond the fact that he was still processing, though he did tell the audience he would likely address it in a serious matter at some point. But then he chose to focus on the jokes he’d prepared for the evening and moved on.
“I don’t have a bunch of s— about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend,” Rock could be heard saying in leaked audio from the show obtained by Variety. “I’m still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point I’ll talk about that s—. And it will be serious and funny.”
Though Rock had not commented on the matter, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed on Sunday night that he chose not to press charges of assault against Smith. An industry insider also confirmed to EW that Rock’s inciting joke was not in the script for the show.
Smith notably omitted Rock from his apology to the Academy on stage, while accepting the Oscar for Best Actor. In the speech, he likened his actions to his King Richard character Richard Williams — real life father to tennis superstar sisters Venus and Serena Williams — as a family protector and said, “Love makes you do crazy things.”
But on Monday, Smith also released an apology statement, publicly addressing Rock. “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris,” he wrote. “I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”
Many in Hollywood have commented on the incident since, including Oscar hosts Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes. Sykes said the moment made her feel physically ill, also noting that no one had apologized to the hosts, except for Rock who approached her at an after-party.
“It was supposed to be your night,” Sykes recounted Rock’s words. “You, and Amy and Regina, y’all were doing such a great job, I’m so sorry. This is now gonna be about this.'”
The Academy said Smith’s actions violated its code of conduct, and the situation is currently under review by the Board of Governors. On Wednesday, the body said it began disciplinary proceedings and revealed that Smith was asked to leave the ceremony after the assault, but that he refused.
The investigation is expected to take several weeks.
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