Who can forget that crazy Oscar moment when Will Smith walked on the stage and slapped Chris Rock?  It ruined a night that should have been remembered for Smith winning the award for Best Actor for his role in King Richard. Instead, he left with a damaged reputation.

So would the Academy attempt to make it up to Chris Rock? The simple answer is yes.

According to Chris Rock, he has declined an invitation to host the 2023 Academy Awards. Via People, he made the statement during a comedy set at the Arizona Finacial Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday. Rock compared going back to host the Oscars to returning to the scene of a crime.

While talking about the hosting offer by the Academy, Chris Rock referenced the 1995 murder trial of O.J. Simpson. Saying it would be like asking the late Nicole Brown Simpson to go back to the restaurant where her mother had left a pair of glasses the night of her death. Dramatic much?

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Rock had already hosted the Oscars back in 2005 and in 2016. He also stated that he turned down the chance to appear in a Super Bowl ad following the incident. Both Rock and the Academy of Motion Pictures declined to comment about the supposed invitation.

Smith’s action led him to resign from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He was also banned from attending the event for 10 years. He apologized to Rock in a statement the following day and in a video on his social media on July 29.

Chris Rock has not officially commented about the incident. But he has used it as a reference during several of his latest comedy tour. Saying, “If everybody claims to be a victim, then nobody will hear the real victims (…) I went to work the next day, I got kids.”

Source: People