Comedian Chris Rock rejected an invitation to host the 2023 Academy Awards, according to him.
Rock made a joke about the invitation while performing at Phoenix’s Arizona Financial Theatre on Sunday. He stopped in Arizona as part of his Ego Death tour.
He compared the Oscars offer to the late Nicole Brown Simpson, saying going back to the award ceremony was similar to Simpson being asked “to go back to the restaurant” where she infamously went to retrieve some eyeglasses she had left the night she was murdered.
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The comedian also claimed he was offered a role in a Super Bowl commercial, which he also turned down.
This tour, which began in April, is Rock’s first in five years. It commenced a month after he was slapped on the Oscar stage by best actor winner Will Smith. Rock had made a joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett-Smith’s buzzed haircut, comparing her to a G.I. Jane character, a film in which all the female characters had shaved heads.
Rock reminded his audience that Smith famously took on the role of Muhammad Ali and that Smith is significantly bigger than Rock.
“The state of Nevada would not sanction a fight between me and Will Smith,” Rock reportedly said during his set.
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As a result of Smith’s altercation with Rock, Smith would go on to resign from the academy, which would ban him from the awards ceremony for 10 years. Smith would later apologize on Instagram days later and YouTube over three months later.
