Report: Chris Rock turned down hosting 2023 Oscars

The fallout from actor Will Smith's slap of presenter Chris Rock at the Academy Awards in March continued Sunday with the comedian telling an audience he had turned down an offer to host next year's ceremony.

The Arizona Republic reported Rock, whom Smith slapped without warning onstage after Rock made a joke about wife Jada Pinkett Smith, was performing at the Arizona Financial Theatre in Phoenix on his Ego Death tour and discussing how being a victim can result in fame. Someone shouted from the crowd, "Talk about it," according to the newspaper.

Rock responded, saying it had physically hurt to be slapped by Smith, whom he noted had played the late heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali in a 2001 film biography. "He's bigger than me," said Rock, 57. "The state of Nevada would not sanction a fight between me and Will Smith." (Las Vegas is a frequent Nevada locale for high-profile boxing matches.)

Rock went on to say the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had asked him to host next year's Oscars but that he had declined. According to the paper, he said hosting would be like returning to the scene of a crime. He compared it to the murder of O.J. Simpson's wife Nicole Brown Simpson, whose death came after a series of events beginning with her leaving a pair of eyeglasses at a restaurant. Hosting would be, Rock said, akin to asking Brown Simpson "to go back to the restaurant."

Rock will return to the ceremony's locale itself, Hollywood's Dolby Theatre, for four comedy shows Nov. 17-20 that close out his tour. The comic will play Radio City Music Hall Oct. 6-8. He had shared a bill with Kevin Hart this summer at Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater.

He additionally told the crowd that he had been offered a Super Bowl commercial, which presumably would have referenced the slap, but that he had also turned this down. He did not name the company that ostensibly made the offer.

Rock has not posted on social media about his statements, and his representative did not respond to a Newsday request for comment. The Academy typically does not disclose host discussions or decisions until near the ceremony's date, which will be March 12. Rock previously hosted in 2005 and 2016.

Smith had struck an unwary Rock following the comic's joke about Pinkett Smith's close-cropped hair. Actor-producer Pinkett Smith has spoken publicly of her hair-loss disease, alopecia, though it was unclear if Rock or any gag writers had been aware. Following widespread industry condemnation, Smith — who later that night won best actor for his film "King Richard" — publicly apologized to Rock on social media the following day, but it was not until July that he posted a full apology on video.