“How was your weekend?†That’s how Chris Rock opened his show in Boston Wednesday night. Apparently Rock isn’t using the stand-up black bags of secrecy, because Variety has audio of his first Ego Death Tour performance since Sunday night’s fracas with Will Smith at the Academy Awards. Rock acknowledged what happened on Sunday before quickly moving to the material he’s been honing for this tour. “I don’t have a bunch of shit about what happened, so if you came to hear that …†he said. “I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend. I’m still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point I’ll talk about that shit. And it will be serious and funny.†One audience member can be heard trying to get a “Fuck Will Smith†chant going, but it did not catch on.
At the second show, Deadline reports that Rock said he hasn’t “talked to anyone despite what you may have heard.†So far Rock is one of the few involved parties to not issue a statement on Sunday’s slap. Sean Combs assured the press that the beef was squashed. Will Smith apologized to the Academy during his Best Actor acceptance speech, then to Rock via Instagram. Jada Pinkett Smith also posted on Instagram, saying that it was a season of healing and that she was “here for it.†Wanda Sykes told Ellen DeGeneres that Rock actually apologized to her for what happened. Questlove said the slap didn’t register for him, because he was meditating while anticipating a win for Best Documentary. Joseph Monish Patel, one of the producers of Summer of Soul, tweeted that he thought both Smith and Rock acted poorly, and they robbed the doc’s moment. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released a statement today saying that Smith was asked to leave the ceremony after the slap, but that he refused.
NBC News reported that Rock quickly moved on from the weekend’s events, after getting two standing ovations. “Let me do a show, yo,†he told the ovating crowd. “You got me all misty.â€