The slap heard ’round the world might turn out to be a boon for comedian Chris Rock.
Actor Will Smith stormed the stage at the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday, stomping toward Rock and, in a shocker, slapped him for a joke the comedian had made about his wife. The stunt didn’t help the flagging show: Although ratings went up compared to last year, they were still the second-lowest in history, Deadline reported.
Meanwhile, Rock is set to kick off his “Ego Death World Tour” on April 2, just a few days from now, and there was unusual fallout from “the slap.”
“Tickets prices for the tour, which includes stops in 30 North American cities, rose from a minimum of $46 per ticket on March 18 to a whopping minimum of $341 on secondary market platform TickPick since the Academy Awards drama,” the New York Post reported, citing Variety.
“The on-screen altercation is one of the most dramatic unplanned events to occur in Academy Awards history, made even more peculiar by Smith accepting the award for best actor less than an hour after his outburst,” Variety reported. “However, the dramatic moment did seem to inspire some viewers to buy tickets to see Rock perform live; one secondary ticketing marketplace, TickPick, reports that they have sold more tickets to the comedian’s tour overnight than they did in the past month combined.”
We sold more tickets to see Chris Rock overnight than we did in the past month combined.
— TickPick (@TickPick) March 28, 2022
Rock was on the stage Sunday cracking wise about all the celebrities in the star-studded theater. Then he got to actor Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
“Jada, I love you, G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it. All right?” Rock said with his trademark laugh at his own punchline. The joke was a reference to a movie that starred Demi Moore as a Navy lieutenant in which the actress sports a shaved head. Jada Pinkett Smith, too, has a shaved head, because she suffers from alopecia.
While she rolled her eyes a bit and didn’t laugh, her husband guffawed heartily, a big smile on his face. “That was a nice one, OK?” Rock said.
“I’m out here –” Rock then said before breaking off. “Uh oh. Richard?” he said, referring to Will Smith’s part playing the father of Serena and Venus Williams’ father in “King Richard.”
Viewers couldn’t see yet, just Rock’s face on the TV screen, but as the camera pulled back, Smith, 6’2″, was striding up the stage toward Rock, 5’10”.
Smith took a mighty swipe, not with a fist but an open hand, toward Rock, still jutting his chin out and to the left. Slow-motion clips show it was a glancing blow.
“Oh wow,” Rock said. “Wow. Will Smith just smacked the s*** out of me,” he said.
The camera then cut to Smith, by now back in his seat. While TV bleeped what he was saying, uncensored versions show he said: “Keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth!”
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent, and ran the Drudge Report from 2010 to 2015. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.