Comedian Chris Rock has at last broken his silence about the now-infamous incident in which actor Will Smith slapped him on live television at the Oscars on Sunday.
Rock dug into the topic a bit at the first night of his new stand-up comedy tour at Boston's Wilbur Theatre on Wednesday night, where a sold-out crowd greeted him with a standing ovation.
Variety obtained audio from the show, in which Rock briefly discussed the incident.
Hear the audio below.
Taking the stage at the Wilbur amid thunderous applause, Rock opened his set by casually quipping:
"How was your weekend?"
Rock then told his crowd that he is "still processing" the events of Sunday night.
“I don’t have a bunch of sh*t to say about that. I had written a whole show before this weekend."
"I’m still processing what happened, so at some point, I’ll talk about that sh*t. It’ll be serious. It’ll be funny, but right now, I’m going to tell some jokes.”
Rock then launched into his previously rehearsed set for his Ego Death Tour, leaving the topic behind.
But the comments were nonetheless significant given his complete silence since the event--and especially amid the wave of new information that has come out in recent days about what went down at the Dolby Theatre.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which administers the Oscars, said Wednesday that Smith was asked to leave the ceremony immediately after the incident but he refused, going on to win the Best Actor statuette shortly thereafter.
And today Oscars producer Will Packer revealed that the Los Angeles Police Department came to the Dolby Theatre Sunday night prepared to arrest Smith for battery, but left when Rock repeatedly refused to press charges.
On Twitter, Rock's comments in Boston definitely raised intrigue, but seemed to only intensify the ongoing debate about the incident.
The Academy has since launched an internal review of Smith's conduct on Sunday night. It is expected to take several weeks.
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