"I am still processing the incident” - Chris Rock breaks his silence following Oscars altercation

Following the hullabaloo that took place at the Oscar ceremony where actor Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage, the comedian has finally broken his silence.

An audio from Rock’s comedy show was published yesterday, where the 57-year-old can be heard briefly addressing the incident.

“I’m still kind of processing what happened. So at some point I’ll talk about that. And it will be serious and funny,” he said.

But he quickly moved on to focus on his stand-up show, telling the audience: “I’m gonna tell some jokes... It’s nice to just be out.” Meanwhile, in recent reports, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, which is the body that hands out the Oscars said that Smith was actually asked to leave the ceremony after hitting Rock, however he refused to do so.

In a statement, it was revealed that the Board of Governors of the Academy initiated disciplinary proceedings against Smith for violations of the Academy’s Standard of Conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behaviour and compromising the integrity of the Academy.

“While we would like to clarify the Mr Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognise we could have handled the situation differently,” read the statement.

During the ceremony, Smith walked on stage at the ceremony and slapped Rock after the comedian who was presenting the award for best documentary, cracked a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, referring to her shaved head.

The incident left the audience and viewers stunned and sparked a thread of conversations on toxic masculinity and violence.

The scuffle happened moments before Smith won his first Oscar for his lead role in the film King Richard.

In his speech, he apologised to the Academy and fellow nominees but not directly to Rock.

However, he eventually apologised to Rock via a public apology, addressing his behaviour which he described was unacceptable and inexcusable.

Rock had declined to press charges against Smith following the altercation.