Chris Rock has publicly confirmed this week that, at least a year after Will Smith’s infamous Oscar slap, he turned down AMPAS’s offer to host next year’s show.
The Academy did not respond to a request for comment.
Deadline first reported Rock’s offer and rejection in June. The comedian hosted the event twice, in 2005 and 2016.
Rock made the public announcement last night at the Arizona Financial Theater in downtown Phoenix. He also said he was offered a Super Bowl commercial, but he also turned it down.
According to The Arizona Republic, Rock joked that hosting the Oscars next year would be like asking Nicole Brown Simpson to “go back to the restaurant.”
“He’s bigger than me,” Rock said of Smith. “The state of Nevada won’t allow a fight between me and Will Smith.
The Rock told a show at Madison Square Garden in June that Smith’s fist rocked him almost as soon as it happened.
He said: “I am not a victim. Yes, it hurts, mom. But I shrugged off the shit and went to work the next day. I’m not going to the hospital for a paper cut. “
Source: Deadline
