Chris Rock speaks out after Will Smith is slapped with a 10-year Oscars ban

Chris Rock is currently on tour for his stand-up comedy show. Photo: AP

Comedian Chris Rock has weighed in on Will Smith's 10-year Oscars ban, which was announced last Friday (April 8).

That same night, at his stand-up show in Indio, California, Rock addressed the issue of him being struck at last month's Oscars ceremony by Smith after cracking a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

"I'm OK, I have a whole show and I'm not talking about that until I get paid," Rock, 57, said. "Life is good. I got my hearing back."

Rock had remained mostly silent after the incident which made headlines around the world, only saying that he was "still processing" it a few days after the ceremony.

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In his latest statement, Smith, 53, said: "I accept and respect the Academy's decision."

He had earlier apologised to Rock and resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. However, he was not stripped of the Best Actor award he won that night for his role in King Richard.

Other celebrities have reacted to the ban on social media, with rapper 50 Cent tweeting: "This is too harsh. So he can't come back till he is 63 years old."

British comedian-actor Ricky Gervais, who had hosted the Golden Globes award ceremony five times in the past, said on Twitter: "Hopefully, he'll only do six years with good behaviour."

He had earlier spoken about Pinkett Smith's hair - she suffers from alopecia, which caused hair loss - and Rock's joke about it, saying: "Someone said it was joking about her disability."

"Well, I'm going a bit thin, I'm disabled," he said in the clip, pointing to his hairline. "I can park right up next to Tesco's now (in disabled parking). I'm fat. That's a disease. I'm fat and balding." – The Straits Times/Asia News Network