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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Vicki Newman & Susan Knox

Chris Rock breaks silence after Will Smith slapped him across face at Oscars

Chris Rock has finally broken his silence after being slapped across the face by Will Smith.

Oscar winner Will stormed the stage at the Oscars on Sunday night and smacked Chris, who had made a bald joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who has alopecia.

Chris has addressed the situation during a comedy gig in Boston this evening, with him telling the audience that he is still "processing" what happened.

The comedian teased that he would comment further on the incident with humour in the future, but continued on with his show without saying much about it.

Chris told the audience this evening: "I don't have a bunch of s*** to say about [the incident], so if you came here for that ... I had written a whole show before this weekend."

Chris Rock has finally broken his silence after being slapped across the face by Will Smith (BACKGRID)
The comedian, 57, looked downcast as he arrived for his show in Boston on Wednesday night (BACKGRID)

He further commented: "I'm still processing what happened. At some point I'll talk about that s***. It'll be serious. It'll be funny, but right now I'm going to tell some jokes."

Chris - on stage at the Oscars - had addressed Jada in the audience, telling her he was looking forward to seeing her in the sequel to GI Jane.

He was making a reference to Demi Moore, who famously shaved her head for the role.

Jada shaved her hair off after being diagnosed with alopecia, and clearly wasn't impressed by Chris' joke.

Will slapped Chris across the face (AFP via Getty Images)

While she and Will did both initially laugh, her face soon dropped and she looked upset about her condition being the butt of the joke.

It was in that moment that Will stormed onto the stage and slapped Chris across the face.

As he returned to his seat, Chris said: "Wow, wow, Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me."

Will then shouted at Chris: "Keep my wife's name out your f***ing mouth."

As Chris insisted he was just making a joke, Will repeated himself, raising his voice, and Chris told him: "I'm going to, okay."

Chris looked at the ground as he arrived with security at the Wilbur Theatre (BACKGRID)

It was just moments later that Will was back on stage to accept his Oscar.

During his acceptance, he tearfully apologised for what had happened, saying: "I want to apologise to the Academy, I want to apologise to all my fellow nominees."

He added: "This is a beautiful moment and I'm not crying for winning an award, it's not about winning an award for me, it's about being able to shine a light on all of the people.

"Art imitates life, I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams, but love will make you do crazy things."

Will returned to his seat then shouted at Chris (FILE)

He went on to pay tribute to his mother and family, before adding: "Thank you for this honour, thank you for this moment...I hope the Academy invites me back."

Will later appeared to laugh off what had happened by responding to critics leaving messages on his Instagram post.

After seeing the backlash, Will seemed to suggest that he wasn't taking the whole thing too seriously by commenting: "You can’t invite people from Philly or Baltimore nowhere!!"

He was referring to his hometown of Philadelphia and Jada's hometown of Baltimore.

His comment was added to a video that he'd captioned: "Me ‘n @jadapinkettsmith got all dressed up to choose chaos".

Will didn't seem too worried about the events as he arrived at the Vanity Fair after party with Jada, daughter Willow and sons Trey and Jaden.

Will later tearfully apologised (ABC / BACKGRID)

He had a huge grin on his face as he posed up clutching his award and then danced to his own song in the party while high-fiving fellow guests.

There have been calls for Will to be stripped of his Best Actor gong following his outburst, although rapper Diddy said the pair had already called a truce.

Since the on-stage drama, Will have issued a grovelling apology on social media.

Will took home an Oscar on Sunday night after slapping Chris (WireImage)
Will defended his wife after the joke about her hair (Getty Images)

Taking to Instagram on Monday, the Oscar-winner said he was 'out of line' on Sunday night.

“Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behaviour at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable,” he began.

"Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.

“I would like to publicly apologise to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness,” he continued.

Will went on to apologise to the academy as he added: “I would also like to apologise to the Academy, the producers of the show, all the attendees and everyone watching around the world.

Will issued a grovelling apology after slapping Chris (Getty Images)

"I would like to apologize to the Williams Family and my King Richard Family. I deeply regret that my behavior has stained what has been an otherwise gorgeous journey for all of us,” he concluded.

“I am a work in progress. Sincerely, Will.”.

Will's wife Jada also broke her silence a couple of days later, on Tuesday.

Taking to Instagram, she shared a meme which read: "This is a season for healing and I'm here for it."

The simple post didn't directly address the incident on Sunday night, although it does appear it's what she is referring to.

Will's mum said his behaviour was strange and 'unlike' her son at the Oscars (BACKGRID)

Will's mum also broke her silence after she witnessed her famous son slapping comedian Chris on stage.

Carolyn Smith said she has never seen her son act the way he did when he slapped Chris across the face over a bald joke he made about the star's wife Jada.

She told 6abc : "He is a very even, people person. That's the first time I've ever seen him go off. First time in his lifetime... I've never seen him do that."

She was chatting to the Philadelphia news station about her famous son's first ever Oscars win and the controversial moment that came before it.

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