Chris Rock: Will Smith Slapped Me Over "The Nicest Joke I Ever Told"

Chris Rock finally shared his feelings about being slapped by Will Smith at this year’s Oscars during a gig with fellow stand-up Dave Chappelle at Liverpool’s M and S Arena on Thursday (Sept 1), the first night of their joint multi-date tour.

Chappelle asked Rock in front of the crowd" “Did that s*** hurt?”

To which, the Saturday Night Live alum exclaimed: “Goddam right... the mother***** hit me over a bulls*** joke — the nicest joke I ever told."

Chappelle added, “Will did the impression of a perfect person for 30 years, and he ripped his mask off and showed us he was as ugly as the rest of us. Whatever the consequences are. … I hope he doesn’t put his mask back on again, and lets his real face breathe. I see myself in both men.”

Smith stormed the stage at the Academy Awards in March and whacked Rock after the comic compared the Independence Day actor’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith's shaven head to Demi Moore’s buzzcut in the 1997 film G.I. Jane.

The slap led to Smith’s resignation from the Academy and a 10-year ban from all of the organisation's events.

Last month, Smith apologised and reached out to Rock publicly via a YouTube video, while claiming he had been hurt both "psychologically and emotionally" by the incident.

He said: "It's all fuzzy. I will say to you, Chris, I apologise to you. My behavior was unacceptable and I'm here whenever you're ready to talk.

"I hate when I let people down. So it hurts, it hurts me psychologically and emotionally to know I didn't live up to people's image and impression of me.

"And the work I'm trying to do is, I am deeply remorseful and I'm trying to be remorseful without being ashamed of myself.

While Rock didn't directly address the video, he did poke fun at the slapping incident during a show in Atlanta. 

“If everybody claims to be a victim, then nobody will hear the real victims,” Rock said. “Even me getting smacked by Suge Smith ... I went to work the next day, I got kids." 

Rock is scheduled to perform with Chappelle in London, Copenhagen and Amsterdam before they return to America later this month for more shows.— BANG SHOWBIZ