Chris Rock's comedy tour saw an increase in ticket sales after he was slapped by actor Will Smith over a joke he made about his wife during the Oscars Sunday night.
Rock, while presenting the award for Best Documentary feature, cracked a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's lack of hair due to her condition with alopecia, referring to her as "G.I. Jane." The wisecrack made Smith walk quickly onto the stage and slap the comedian—a move that quickly went viral and divided fans.
However, some viewers felt moved to purchase tickets to Rocks' ongoing comedy tour that is dubbed the "Ego Death World Tour," which has more than 50 shows in cities across the United States and other countries.
TickPick, a ticket-selling service, reported Monday a surge in ticket sales for his shows after the controversial incident. "We sold more tickets to see Chris Rock overnight than we did in the past month combined," the company tweeted.
We sold more tickets to see Chris Rock overnight than we did in the past month combined.
— TickPick (@TickPick) March 28, 2022
Prices for his tickets also increased Monday, likely due to a higher amount of demand.
Screenshots from StubHub showed a jump in prices for Rock's show at the Wilbur Theater in Boston, which is scheduled for this Friday. Tickets for one table increased from $338 just before 11 a.m. to $450 at about noon. By 1 p.m., table tickets were completely sold out, according to StubHub.
Newsweek reached out to TickPick for more information on Monday.
The incident rocked the award show, becoming one of the most talked about Oscar moment in years. Videos of the slap amassed millions of views on social media by Monday afternoon, with conversations arising about whether or not Smith was wrong, concerns about safety for comedians and even whether or not the slap was staged to increase publicity for the Oscars.
Later in the night, Smith returned to the stage to accept the award for Best Actor for his role in King Richard, a critically-acclaimed biopic in which he portrayed Richard Williams, the father of professional tennis players Venus and Serena Williams.
During his acceptance speech, he apologized to the Academy and his other nominees. "This is a beautiful moment, and I'm not crying for winning an award. It's not about winning an award for me, it's about being able to a shine light on all of the people," he said.
The Academy does not condone violence of any form.
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 28, 2022
Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.
The Academy condemned the slap in a statement early Monday morning and said it "does not condone violence of any form."
Many celebrities have also spoken out about the altercation.
"Let me tell you something, it's a very bad practice to walk up on stage and physically assault a Comedian. Now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theaters," tweeted comedian Kathy Griffin.
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