Hours after Will Smith took to social media to apologize for slapping Chris Rock during the 2022 Oscars, the stand-up took to the stage to wax poetic about the moment.
Rock compared Smith to former Death Row Records executive and currently incarcerated Suge Knight, Page Six reported.
“Everybody’s trying to be a victim,” Rock, 57, said during a concert at the Fox Theater in Atlanta on Friday night.
“If everybody says they’re a victim, nobody’s going to listen to the real victims. I even got spanked by Suge Smith… I went to work the next day, I had kids.”
“Anyone who says that words do never get punched in the face,” Rock added people.
The comedian is currently touring his new material as part of his Ego Death World Tour. He also played the theme during recent shows in New Jersey and New York, co-headlined by Kevin Hart.
Smith’s latest apology, as he also apologized to Rock via social media days after the infamous incident, revealed that Rock has so far refused to talk to him about the moment he deemed “unacceptable” .
“I reached out to Chris and the message he got back is that he’s not ready to talk, but when he is, he’ll be in touch,” Smith said in the video posted on YouTube. “I’ll tell you, Chris, I apologize. My behavior was unacceptable, and I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.”
Smith, 53, also apologized to Rock’s mother and brother, Tony Rock.
“That was one of the things at the time that I didn’t realize,” he continued. “I wasn’t thinking about how many people were hurt at the time. I want to apologize to Chris’ mother, Chris’ family, especially his brother, Tony Rock.”
Tony, who previously worked with Smith on the early 2000s sitcom All of ustook Smith to task for hitting his brother, leaving the Oscar winner with the impression that their relationship is now “probably beyond repair.”
“Disappointing people is my central trauma.
“I hate it when I let people down, so it hurts psychologically and emotionally to know that I didn’t live up to the image and impression that people had of me,” she explained. “The work I’m trying to do is I’m deeply remorseful, and I’m trying to be remorseful without being ashamed of myself.”
This article originally appeared on Page Six and is reproduced with permission