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CHRIS ROCK BREAKS SILENCE ON WILL SMITH OSCARS SLAP
By NICOLE CORD-CRUZ
and EMILY HUTCHINSON
As everyone knows now, Chris Rock got slapped by Will Smith on the Oscars stage after making a joke about the actor's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Despite being hit, he kept his composure and managed to make light of the situation.
During his standup show in Boston on March 30, Rock was met with overwhelming support from the audience. "What's up, Boston? How was your weekend?!" he asked the crowd, drawing laughs.
It didn't take him long to address the elephant in the room. "I'm still kind of processing what happened," he confessed, before saying he had prepared a bunch of jokes ahead of the show, so as not to disappoint people who were looking forward to a statement.
A source told People, "When Chris hosted the Oscars in 2016, Jada was boycotting because of 'Oscars So White.' In his monologue, he made fun of her, saying she can't boycott something she wasn't invited to.”
In a statement issued to People on March 30, the Academy shed some more light on the incident. They confirmed that Will was actually asked to leave after his outburst over the Jada Pinkett Smith joke, but claimed he was unwilling to leave the event.