Chris Rock opens comedy show, still ‘processing’ Oscar slap

By MICHAEL CASEY
Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — Comedian Chris Rock returned to the stage Wednesday for the first time since being slapped by Will Smith at the Oscars, receiving rapturous applause from a Boston audience. Rock only briefly addressed the slap, saying he was “still kind of processing what happened” Sunday and never mentioning Smith by name. The crowd in Boston showered Rock with multiple standing ovations, with one audience member shouting the comedian should sue Smith over the confrontation. Smith slapped Rock onstage at the Oscars over a joke the comedian made about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s buzzed haircut. Pinkett Smith has spoken publicly about her diagnosis of alopecia, which can cause baldness. Smith has publicly apologized.