Chris Rock is not buying Will Smith’s public apology.
During his stand-up show with Dave Chappelle at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday, the comedian said “f**k your hostage video” in an apparent response to Smith’s YouTube video in July, reports Deadline.
This is the first time Rock has publicly addressed the video in which Smith apologized for slapping him during the Academy Awards after he made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair.
“I am deeply remorseful and I’m trying to be remorseful without being ashamed of myself,” Smith said in the emotional clip. “I’m human and I made a mistake and I’m trying not to think of myself as a piece of shit.”
During his set, Rock again referred to Will Smith as “Suge Smith” in a nod to Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight and said that he returned to work the following day after the slap and he was not a victim.
“Yes that shit hurt. He played Ali. I can’t even play Floyd Mayweather,” Rock joked, referring to Smith’s role as Muhammad Ali in 2001’s Ali.
Taking the stage after Rock, Chappelle said that he doesn’t know how he would have reacted if Smith slapped him onstage at the Oscars, but was sure that the actor would not have “enjoyed the rest of his night.”
While performing a show in Phoenix last month, Rock revealed that he was asked to host next year’s Oscars, but turned down the invitation. He referenced the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, comparing it to asking Nicole Brown Simpson “to go back to the restaurant” where she left her eyeglasses before being killed.