Chris Rock did not lose everything by taking a slap from Will Smith in the middle of the Oscars ceremony on the night of Sunday to Monday. According to ticketing site TickPick on Monday, sales for Chris Rock’s stand-up show, Ego Death World Tour, exploded on the heels of Will Smith’s slap streak, which went on to win the Best Actor Oscar. He defended his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, mocked by Chris Rock for her alopecia, a disease that causes hair loss. “We sold more tickets to see Chris Rock tonight than last month combined,” tweeted TickPick.
The “drama” of the evening also caused the audiences of the Oscars to jump, in freefall. This Sunday, the ceremony attracted more than 15 million Americans in front of their screens. The provisional audience figures, revealed by the ABC channel which broadcast the gala evening, recorded a clear rebound compared to the 9.85 million spectators last year, a historically low level.
With 15.36 million Sunday evening, it is still the second worst performance of the Oscars since they are broadcast on television. The images showing the actor slapping the comedian on stage have spread on social networks at the speed of light. On Monday, there were countless “memes”, montages and other comments taking sides for one or the other.