At one of his stand-up shows in Boston, Chris Rock shut down a heckler who took it upon themself to yell “fuck Will Smith.”
TMZ reports that while doing his third stand-up show at the Wilbur Theatre, the 57-year-old comedian didn’t let the heckler get in the way of his Thursday set. After he briefly addressed Smith walking onstage and slapping him at the Oscars in a similar fashion to his other shows at the Wilbur this week, an audience member allegedly shouted, “Fuck Will Smith!”
Almost immediately, Rock responded, “No, no, no, no, no.”
People wrote that he “did not engage with ‘Will Smith’ chants the night before.” He did, without mentioning Smith by name, tell one of his audiences this week that he doesn’t “have a bunch of shit about what happened,” and stressed his material was penned before the Oscars. “I’m still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point I’ll talk about that shit,” he said. “And it will be serious and funny.” He also said he hasn’t “talked to anyone yet, despite what you heard,” disputing claims that he’s already spoken with the King Richard actor.
The slap has completely dominated the pop culture news landscape since Sunday. Still-increasing numbers of celebrities have chimed in, with some expressing support for Smith and others for Rock. Oscars co-host Amy Schumer described the moment as “disturbing,” while Daniel Radcliffe, with perhaps the best take so far, said he’s “dramatically bored of hearing people’s opinions about it.”
