(CelebrityAccess) – A bad joke and getting slapped on national television is all it took to become one of the hottest tickets in town. This week, Chris Rock returns to stand-up after being slapped by Will Smith on the Oscars stage Sunday night over a joke he made about the actor’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Ticket resellers report seats to see Rock perform in his upcoming comedy tour have suddenly skyrocketed in price. One secondary ticketing marketplace, TickPick, says that they have sold more tickets to Rock’s tour overnight than they did in the past month combined. They also claim that ticket prices have surged since “Slapgate,” going up from a minimum of $46 per ticket on March 18 to a minimum of $341, a whopping 641% increase. In a top ticket sales page and THR report, StubHub also saw a daily boost of over 25x within the past two days.
Rock also has friends in high places as on, and off-screen buddy Adam Sandler promoted his tour via Twitter on Tuesday.
Can’t wait for this. Love you buddy! pic.twitter.com/2b9iywyJg5
— Adam Sandler (@AdamSandler) March 29, 2022
On Monday, a public apology alleged to be written by Rock was posted to Facebook and made the social media rounds. However, that apology (which had several spelling errors) is fake. Rebecca Keegan from THR was the first to break the news on the fake apology. “Chris Rock has not yet issued a statement. There is a statement going around purporting to be from Rock that is not from him, per his team,” she tweeted. Rock has remained mum since Oscar night as the boost in ticket sales shows that people want to hear what Rock has to say.
Rock’s “Ego Death Tour” in the U.S. has 38 dates, hitting major cities like Denver, Oakland, New York, Chicago, and Washington, DC. Ironically enough, Rock will close the tour in Los Angeles at the Dolby Theatre on November 17 and 18.