The ripple effects from Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 94th Oscars show no sign of slowing down, and while Smith has apologized and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has publicly condemned his actions, chances are some folks behind the seasons might be pleased with the increased attention.
Per Variety, the award show’s ratings were up considerably, netting 16.6 million viewers, a 58 percent increase from the 2021 ceremony, which saw just 10.5 million people tune in. (The last pre-COVID broadcast in 2020, however, came in around 23.6 million, and numbers were as high as 34.6 million in 2016.) And no, that isn’t solely off the strength of The Slap—data indicates these figures were already set by the time the incident happened, although there was a spike of about 614,000 viewers around 11PM when Smith took the stage for his acceptance speech. There was a particularly notable spike in the 18-49 demographic–a 73 percent jump–which, unfortunately, may encourage the producers to move forward with gimmicks like the social media fan votes that saw films like Justice League, Cinderella, and Minamata receive shoutouts during the show. Other questionable decisions, like asking DJ Khaled and a trio of professional athletes to present, may have made a difference in upping the viewership, though it’s tough to attribute success with that much specificity since this is preliminary data.
Another beneficiary of the renewed Oscars attention is Rock himself, who is currently in the midst of an international standup tour (funnily enough, called the Chris Rock Ego Death Tour). People are understandably eager to see if Rock addresses the slap at one of his upcoming shows, hence tickets for his March 30 show at Boston’s Wilbur Theater rose by 641 percent in the days following the Oscars. (As of this piece’s publication, the cheapest seat available via reseller TickPick is $518.) Rock has a string of shows in Boston at the 1200-cap venue, all six of which are completely sold out. He has not yet commented publicly about the incident, though a TMZ report from March 28 claimed that he did not know about Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia diagnosis prior to making his G.I. Jane joke.
With the possibility that the Academy revokes Smith’s award due to a violation of its code of conduct, the controversy around the Oscars is far from over. Whoopi Goldberg, a member of the Academy’s Board of Governors, addressed the rumors on The View.“We’re not going to take that Oscar from him,” she said. “There will be consequences I’m sure, but I don’t think that’s what they’ll do.” The Academy has revoked memberships of people like Bill Cosby, Roman Polanski, and Harvey Weinstein, but has never rescinded an award once handed out.
Meanwhile, some of Smith’s Hollywood peers continue to condemn his actions. Speaking with Gayle King, Jim Carrey said he was “sickened” that the room gave Smith a standing ovation, adding that if he were in Chris Rock’s place he would’ve sued Smith the next morning. “It didn’t escalate, it came out of nowhere,” Carrey said. “Because Will has something going on inside him that’s frustrated. And I wish him the best, I really do. I don’t have anything against Will Smith. He’s done great things. But that was not a good moment.” Howard Stern took it a step further, comparing Will Smith to… Donald Trump. “Not one [security] person came out, because he’s Will Smith, this is how Trump gets away with shit. Will Smith and Trump are the same guy. He decided he’s going to take matters into his own hands.”