People in the audience weren't shy about weighing in on the Oscars incident.
Chris Rock faced some hecklers during the second night of his comedy tour. Less than a week after Will Smith slapped the comedian at the Oscars over a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, audience members made their feelings about the incident known during Rock's second night of shows in Boston, Massachusetts.
A source tells ET that two hecklers interrupted Rock's set. The first came at the beginning of the show, when someone near the front row said, 'F**k Will Smith,' seemingly trying to get a reaction from Rock, according to the source.
The venue security swiftly removed the man, the source says, prompting Rock to joke, "Where were y'all at the Oscars?" Rock's comment likely refers to the fact that, after Smith's slap, the Oscars audience gave the King Richard star a standing ovation when he won the Best Actor award later that night.
"The people in that room who stood up stood up for somebody that they knew -- he was a peer, a friend, a brother," Oscars producer Will Packer told Good Morning America on Friday of the audience's reaction to Smith's win. "He has a three-decades-plus career of being the opposite of what we saw in that moment. These people saw the person that they know and they were hoping that somehow, some way, this was an aberration."
Later in Rock's Thursday stand-up set, a second heckler proclaimed, "F**k Will Smith," the source says. That time, Rock diffused the situation by saying, "No, no, no," per the source.
"Chris is not going to take the bait or engage with any hecklers," the source says, adding that, as Rock mentions at the beginning of each performance, he's got a whole show of great new material that he worked on before the weekend that he wants to perform.
The source adds that Rock is processing the situation and will respond in his own way in his own time.
Rock addressed the incident for the first time on Wednesday, during the first stop on his tour. "I have a whole show… that I wrote before the weekend, so, if you came here for that, I'm still processing it," Rock said during his first show. "I will talk about it, and it will be serious, and it will be funny, but not tonight."
A source previously told ET that Rock has been "pensive" and that the events from Sunday have been on his mind, but he didn't want them to distract from his performance. "His focus is on his show right now," the source said, adding that the positive reaction Rock's received from audiences thus far has been "very emotional" for him.
In the wake of the incident, the Academy has said that a formal review is underway, and noted that they have "initiated disciplinary proceedings... which may include suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct."
As for Smith, he did not apologize to Rock during his acceptance speech, but did take to Instagram the day after the ceremony to speak out again and apologize to comedian specifically, as well as to others who were impacted by his actions.
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