155 DAYS LATER…

Post-Slap Chris Rock Says He Refused 2023 Oscars Hosting Gig

The comedian compared going back to the awards ceremony to the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson.

More than 22 weeks have passed since Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, and some—namely, Rock—still can’t stop talking about it. In front of a Phoenix audience on Sunday night, the comedian explained he turned down an invitation to host next March’s Oscars ceremony, according to The Arizona Republic. Rock compared his situation with the brutal murder of Nicole Brown Simpson in a semi-coherent joke, saying that returning to the awards show would be like asking Simpson “to go back to the restaurant” where she dined hours before her death. (Simpson was killed at her Los Angeles home, along with waiter Ron Goldman, a friend who was apparently at the property to return a pair of glasses that Simpson’s mother had left at the restaurant.) The academy did not immediately respond to a call or email from The Daily Beast seeking comment Monday.