Chris Rock to Address Oscars Slap as Will Smith Returns to an Award Ceremony
Chris Rock Hell Yeah, Will's Slap Hurt!!! Set to Talk Oscars as Smith Accepts Award
Chris Rock is finally ready to talk all about the infamous Oscars slap -- he'll address it during a live comedy special ... which, coincidentally, comes just as Will Smith accepts an award for the first time since that night.
The comedian's Netflix special will be live-streamed Saturday night, and The Wall Street Journal reports when Chris did a set to prep for the event ... he opened up about Will's infamous attack.
Chris said, "The thing people want to know ... did it hurt? Hell yeah, it hurt. He played Muhammad Ali! I played Pookie!" -- referring to each of their respective roles in "Ali" and "New Jack City."
Of course, it's unclear how much of those specific words will end up in the final product, because Chris is performing his set live ... but even Netflix says he'll talk about the incident.
Talk about odd timing -- as promos for Chris' special are everywhere, Will was on stage Wednesday night in Beverly Hills for the African-American Film Critics Association Awards. He accepted the Beacon Award with "Emancipation" director, Antoine Fuqua.
Will made no reference -- joking or otherwise -- to the Oscars incident, and instead spoke only about playing the escaped slave, "Whipped Peter," and said it was the "most difficult film of my entire career."
This year's Oscars ceremony, the first under Will's 10-year ban, is less than 2 weeks away ... but the Motion Picture Academy says there won't be any hijinks like last year, now that its new "crisis team" is ready to crack down on any potential drama.
