Comedian Chris Rock, who was infamously slapped by actor Will Smith at the 2022 Oscars ceremony, reportedly told an audience in Phoenix that he'd been offered the job of hosting the 2023 Academy Awards but turned it down.
According to the local newspaper, The Arizona Republic, Rock made the comments at his sold-out Sunday night show.
The newspaper reported the comedian said to host would be like returning to the scene of the crime. The Arizona Republic said Rock referenced the murder trial of O.J. Simpson and said hosting the awards ceremony would be like asking Nicole Brown Simpson “to go back to the restaurant.”
Brown Simpson, who was killed in 1994 outside her Los Angeles home along with 25-year-old restaurant server Ron Goldman, had left a pair of eyeglasses at the restaurant the night she died.
Reps for Rock did not immediately respond to TODAY's request for comment. The academy declined to comment publicly.
Smith slapped Rock at the March 27 awards show. Rock made a joke about Smith's wife, actor Jada Pinkett Smith's bald head. Pinkett Smith has alopecia, an autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss.
Following the joke, after Pinkett Smith rolled her eyes, Smith walked onstage and slapped Rock. He returned to his seat and yelled at Rock to “keep my wife’s name out of your f------ mouth.”
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ board of governors would later ban Smith from attending the Academy Awards ceremony — or any other academy events or programs — for the next 10 years. Smith would later apologize for his actions in a video.
“I can say to all of you: There is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment,” Smith said in the July 29 video. “There’s no part of me that thinks that’s the optimal way to handle a feeling of disrespect or insults.”
