Chris Rock has spoken publicly for the first time about being slapped by Will Smith at the Oscars, nearly a year after the scandal shocked millions of viewers around the world.

• “Everyone knows, yes, I was slapped a year ago – I was slapped by this scoundrel.
• And people say, “Does that hurt?” It still hurts. I can hear summer ringing in my ears,” Rock said, according to The Guardian.

Chris Rock looked tired and frustrated as he talked about Smith at the end of his stand-up show “Selective Outrage,” which aired live on Netflix from the Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore on Saturday night.

“yeah damn it hurts”

At last year’s Academy Awards, Smith, who won best actor that night, slapped Rock on air after he joked about the haircut of his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia areata. The comedian later declined to press charges.

A few days later, Rock appeared on stage in Boston and said: “I’m still thinking about what happened. So at some point I’ll talk about that shit. And it will be serious and funny.” Despite being on a world tour, this is the first time the comedian has spoken at length about the incident.

The Rock, who made several comments on his new show about attention-seekers calling themselves victims, said:

• “I am not a victim. You will never see me crying on Oprah or Gayle. It will never happen… I got hit like (boxer Manny) Pacquiao. I took it as Pacquiao. does it hurt Yes, damn it hurts.”

He dismissed people who described him and Smith as fighters, saying:

• “First of all, I know you can’t tell from watching TV, but Will Smith is a lot bigger than me. We are not the same size.
• Will Smith makes movies shirtless. You’ve never seen me shoot a movie shirtless.
• I’m in a movie where I’m having open-heart surgery, and I’m wearing a sweater.
• Will Smith played Muhammad Ali in the film. Do you think I ever auditioned for this role? He played Muhammad Ali, I played Pookie in New Jack City.”

“I loved Will Smith, I loved him all my life”

​Chris Rock revealed that the slap he received inspired the name of his show.

“Will Smith practices selective outrage. Everyone knows what the hell happened. And everyone knows I have nothing to do with this shit. We didn’t have any “mess,” he said, referring to Pinkett Smith’s relationship with rapper August Alsina while she was married to Smith. Pinkett Smith admitted Smith in an episode of her online show “Red Table Talk”.

• “His wife was having an affair with his son’s friend, okay? Normally I wouldn’t talk about this shit, but for some reason… they put this shit on the internet. I don’t know why two talented people would do something so despicable. What the hell?”.
• “Everyone was deceived here. None of us have ever done an interview on television with someone who cheated on us… She hurt him a lot more than he hurt me,” Rock said, adding that he tried to call Smith afterward to apologize for what happened to him , but he didn’t answer.
• “Everybody called that man a whore… and who did he hit? Me,” he added to the amused audience.
• “I loved Will Smith, I loved him all my life. I saw him open for Run DMC…he’s made some great movies. I always felt a connection with him. And now I’m watching Emancipation to see him get whipped.”

He said he didn’t fight back that night because he has parents: “Because I was educated. And you know what my parents taught me? Don’t insult yourself in front of white people.”

Smith has since spoken about the slap, publicly apologizing to Rock the next day on Instagram: “I was wrong and I was wrong. I am ashamed and my actions did not show the man I want to be.” A few months later, he said he reached out to Rock, but she said she was “not ready to talk.” (Source: News.ro)