Chris Rock Tells Arizona Audience He Turned Down an Offer to Host 2023 Oscars

More than 22 weeks have passed since Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, and some—namely, Rock—still can’t stop talking about it. In front of a Phoenix audience on Sunday night, the comedian explained he turned down an invitation to host next March’s Oscars ceremony, according to The Arizona Republic. Rock compared his situation with the brutal murder of Nicole Brown Simpson in a semi-coherent joke, saying that returning to the awards show would be like asking Simpson “to go back to the restaurant” where she dined hours before her death. (Simpson was killed at her Los Angeles home, along with waiter Ron Goldman, a friend who was apparently at the property to return a pair of glasses that Simpson’s mother had left at the restaurant.) The academy did not immediately respond to a call or email from The Daily Beast seeking comment Monday.