Chris Rock breaks silence on slap; Chappelle jokes about blaming Jews for 'my problems'

Acrisure Arena opened on Wednesday night with a comedy show by Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle. Both comics, who have been the subject of controversies throughout the year, pulled no punches with the sold-out crowd.

Comedians Rick Ingraham, Donnell Rawlings — who appeared on "Chappelle's Show" as Ashy Larry — and hip-hop duo Black Star opened the show, which started nearly an hour late. Outside the arena, Varner Road was overwhelmed with traffic well past the scheduled 7:30 p.m. start time.

The arena was nearly packed when Rock took the stage and delivered a set similar to the one he performed in April at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, which made light of corporations attempting to embrace diversity, being single again, and people feeling afraid of offending anyone for any reason.

The most notable moment of the performance came during a rant about what the comedian believes is wrong with America. Rock chose this part of the set to break his silence on what happened last March when he presented the Best Documentary Feature award at the 2022 Oscars — and was slapped mid-presentation by actor Will Smith. During Rock's April performance, he said: "I'm OK, I have a whole show and I'm not talking about that until I get paid. Life is good. I got my hearing back."

On Wednesday, Rock stated he was the victim and asked the audience to compare Smith's role as Muhammad Ali in the 2001 biopic "Ali" to his role as Pookie in "New Jack City." He also brought up Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith's 2022 appearance on "Red Table Talk" to discuss marital problems and Pinkett Smith's affair.

When Chappelle appeared, he lit the first of many cigarettes smoked throughout his 60-minute set. In contrast to Rock's quick pace and several laughs a minute, Chappelle took longer to get to punchlines but still received many laughs. He discussed his discomfort while filming the "Chappelle's Show" parody of R&B singer R. Kelly and having an Asian American wife. He also told a story about a man who stood outside the gate of his home shouting a racial slur.

During the final 10 minutes of Chappelle's set, he said in a sarcastic tone that he was going to "blame the Jews for all my problems" instead of work on himself. Chappelle has been criticized recently for comments many have regarded as antisemitic.

Attendees were required to place their phones and smartwatches in pouches before the show, and when Chappelle spotted a woman in the front row filming him with her phone, he became angry and demanded that she be thrown out. He told the fan as she was escorted out by several security team members that she violated his trust and that she could "kick rocks" in the parking lot while waiting for her friends who were allowed to remain at the show.

He used the woman being thrown out as an example of why he "hates" performing comedy shows and talked about the May 3 performance at the Netflix is a Joke festival in Los Angeles when a man stormed the stage, lunged at Chappelle and tackled him.

Chappelle said that Rock, actor and comedian Jamie Foxx, and former "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart were more effective in coming to the comedian's aid before his bodyguards, who were "slipping and sliding" on the stage in their dress shoes.

Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Acrisure Arena opens with sold-out Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle show