[imagesource: Al Seib /A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images]
One plus side to being slapped at the Oscars is that tickets to your stand-up shows suddenly become very hot property.
Chris Rock wasn’t struggling, but StubHub, a US ticket exchange and resale company, saw the daily sale of tickets soar by more than 25 times in the two days following the Oscars when compared to the previous month.
The Hollywood Reporter says that “cumulative sales over the past two days [Monday and Tuesday] are more than the total sales for Rock’s tour in the entirety of March”.
Rock is due to start his Ego Death World Tour on April 15.
His first performance since The Slap took place last night in Boston and he sort of addressed the elephant in the room after receiving a solid two-minute standing ovation.
This from Variety:
“How was your weekend?” he began with a knowing wink, drawing a wave of laughter. “I don’t have a bunch of shit about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend. I’m still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point I’ll talk about that shit. And it will be serious and funny.”
An audience member then chanted “Fuck Will Smith!” but Rock ignored the comment and began his hour-long set.
“I’m going to tell some jokes,” he said. “It’s nice to just be out.”
The audio recording is terrible quality but you can make out most of the above, as well as the crowd giving Smith hell:
Chris Rock just addressed the Will Smith #Oscars slap for the first time during a sold-out stand-up show in Boston. https://t.co/Keka0MVhSd
Listen to the audio 👇 pic.twitter.com/TuqE8AHs6C
— Variety (@Variety) March 31, 2022
Later in the show, Rock joked that, “Except for some other pretty weird things, life is pretty good right now.”
Those who bought tickets early paid as little as $70 but others in attendance paid anywhere from $800 to $1 200.
Rock’s silence is perhaps the reason that ticket sales for his stand-up comedy tour were nearly impossible to come by.
By coincidence, Rock was booked to play several shows in Boston beginning on Wednesday. He embarks on his “Ego Death World Tour” next month, which starts in New Jersey. It’s the first time that Rock has gone on the road in five years.
When you’re being paid to talk, shutting up has its perks.
Despite fake apology screenshots doing the rounds, Rock has not publicly commented on the Oscars slap.
Will Smith has, and Jada Pinkett Smith has also taken to social media to talk about “healing”.
[source:variety]