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Chris Rock claims he was approached to host the Oscars in 2023

Chris Rock would feel like he was going back to the scene of a crime if he went back to the 2023 Oscars.

On Sunday, the 57-year-old comedian told the audience at a comedy show in Phoenix that he was asked to host next year's event, but he turned down the offer.

According to the Arizona Republic, the "Everybody Hates Chris" star told the crowd that going back to the Oscars would be like asking Nicole Brown Simpson "to go back to the restaurant" where she left her glasses before she killed. He was referring to the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, who was found not guilty.

Will Smith, 53, slapped him on stage at the Academy Awards on March 27, 2016, after he joked that his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, looked like "G.I. Jane" because she had a bald head. This was a year after he was turned down as a host.

Chris Rock
Chris Rock says he was offered hosting duties for next year’s Oscars — but turned down the gig.
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

The Post has reached out to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for comment.

Rock also claimed he was offered — and turned down — a post-slap Super Bowl commercial.

At the Academy Awards earlier this year, Will Smith walked onstage and slapped Chris Rock after he made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
At the Academy Awards earlier this year, Will Smith walked onstage and slapped Chris Rock after he made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
AFP via Getty Images

In May, ABC's President of Entertainment, Craig Erich, told Deadline that he was open to Rock being the host again next year. The executive said that the choice would definitely bring in more viewers.

“Obviously there was a lot of controversy [surrounding this year’s broadcast], which overshadowed a lot of the positive things about the show, but I was really happy with the program,” Erich stated. “It was the biggest bounce-back of any award show this season.”

Rock had previously hosted the Oscars twice: in 2005 and again 2016.

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith arrive at the Oscars on March 27.
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith arrive at the Oscars on March 27.
WireImage,

Smith says that Rock is still "not ready" to talk about the 2022 fight one-on-one. Instead, in a nearly six-minute YouTube video posted on July 29, the "King Richard" star publicly apologized to Rock.

"So I'll say it to you, Chris: I'm sorry," he said with obvious regret. "What I did was wrong, and I'm here to talk whenever you're ready."

Rock hasn't talked much about what happened, except on a few comedy shows in the past few months.

“Yeah, that s–t hurt, motherf–ker — but I shook that s–t off and went to work the next day,” he declared while performing alongside Kevin Hart and Dave Chappelle at Madison Square Garden in July. “Anyone who says ‘words hurt’ has never been punched in the face.”

“I’m not a victim, motherf–ker,” the “Grown Ups” star declared the following day in Holmdel, New Jersey. “I don’t go to the hospital for a paper cut.”

The 2023 Oscars will take place on March 12.

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