Chris Rock reacts to Will Smith’s apology for Oscars slap: ‘F*** your hostage video, that s*** hurt’

Days after Will Smith shared a lengthy video apologising to his fans and comedian Chris Rock for slapping him at the Academy Awards earlier this year, the comedian responded to the apology. Speaking at his recent stand-up show in London, Chris dismissed the apology as a ‘hostage video’ and made jokes about the incident, saying the incident did hurt. Chris had joked about Will’s wife, actor Jada Pinkett Smith at the ceremony. Also read: Will Smith apologises to Chris Rock and his mom for Oscars slap incident. Watch

Chris has been performing in the UK with fellow comedian Dave Chappelle and he has referred to the Will Smith slap in his previous sets of the same tour as well. As per Deadline, in one of his performances over the weekend, Chris opened his performance with a reference to Will’s apology, saying, “f*** your hostage video.” He then referred to Will’s award-winning performance in the 2001 film Ali and said, “Yes that s*** hurt. He played Ali. I can’t even play Floyd Mayweather.”

Last week, in another performance, Chris had said Will had slapped him for the ‘nicest joke’ he ever made. During the Oscars in March, Chris made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head. “Jada, can’t wait for GI Jane 2,” Chris had said, referring to Demi Moore’s 1997 film GI Jane in which Demi’s character shaved her head. Jada had revealed on her talk show a few years ago that she took the decision to shave her head after she was diagnosed with alopecia areata, an autoimmune disorder. Following this, Will walked up to the stage and slapped the comedian across his face. Will was later banned from the Academy Awards for ten years despite issuing a public apology.

In July, Will shared a video on YouTube answering everyone’s most asked questions, including why he did not apologize to Chris during his acceptance speech. “I was fogged out by that point,” Will admitted about the lack of an immediate apology and said, “It’s all fuzzy.” During the five-minute clip, the actor added that he had reached out to Chris but the latter wasn’t ready to meet yet.