Ethan Shanfeld After being slapped by Will Smith onstage at the Oscars, Chris Rock says the Academy has asked him to host next year’s award ceremony. Performing a show in Phoenix on Aug. 28, Rock told the crowd that he turned down the offer, per The Arizona Republic. The comedian apparently joked that his return to the Oscars would be like asking Nicole Brown Simpson “to go back to the restaurant,” a reference to the murder trial of O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife, who left her glasses at an Italian restaurant before being killed. Throughout his 90-minute stand-up comedy show, Rock said the Oscars slap hurt, noting that Smith played boxer Muhammad Ali in the 2001 movie “Ali.”