Just like the rest of us, Chris Rock is still reeling from when Will Smith slapped him at the Oscars. In fact, the 57-year-old comedian doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to accept the Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air star’s apology. “He can’t imagine forgiving Will, being friends with him. It is just a very weird thing to fully envelope,” a source close to Chris EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife.
Chris also knows that it’s not something people are going to forget about anytime soon. “Chris Rock doesn’t want the Will Smith slap to define him and the rest of his career. It sucks that it is now part of his life forever,” our insider divulged. The King Richard star slapped Chris after Chris made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, calling her GI Jane due to her bald head. Jada has alopecia, an auto-immune disease that causes hair loss, but Everybody Hates Chris star reportedly didn’t know about her condition.
Since the slap, ticket sales to Chris’s comedy show have skyrocketed. While his audiences may be expecting him to address the slap, he’s not ready to go there yet. “He doesn’t know when he will talk about it, he knows he will have to at some point, but he literally is focusing on his tour and for the dust to fully settle,” the source explained. “It is still raw, emotional, and confusing to deal with and wrap his head around.”
Will Smith has since apologized to both the Academy and Chris for the incident. He also resigned from the Academy just after they launched a review of the incident. One thing Will and Chris seem to have in common is that they’re both trying to move on from the incident. “The most important thing right now is that Chris is looking to move forward positively and not harp on it more than he needs,” the source shared.
Once Chris is ready to address the issue, he wants to “articulate everything in a very professional manner because the way the situation was brought on him was as far from that as possible.” Chris will likely address the situation at some point, as will the Academy. The President of the Academy announced will continue its investigation of the incident, even after he resigned, which could lead to his expulsion from the Academy.