“Anyone who says words hurt has never been punched in the face,” Rock said during a set at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday for his “Only Headliners Allowed” tour with Kevin Hart, ET reported. The comment was reportedly made during a segment on cancel culture.
During the Academy Awards ceremony, Smith walked onstage and slapped Rock across the face for joking about the shaved head of his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
In a sketch about people being overly sensitive, Rock reportedly said: “That shit hurt, motherfucker,” but “I’m not a victim.”
“I shook that shit off and went to work the next day,” he said, per Us Weekly.
In the immediate aftermath of his onstage assault at the Oscars, Rock told attendees at a show in Boston that that he didn’t “have a bunch of shit to say about that” and was “still processing what happened.” Rock also said he would joke about it when he was ready.
Rock mentioned the incident briefly in May, after controversial comedian Dave Chappelle was tackled onstage by an attendee during a show in Los Angeles.
“Was that Will Smith?” Rock cracked as he put his arm around Chappelle after the incident.
Chappelle gave a surprise opening set during Saturday’s show in New York, and also joked about his own onstage attack.
