Chris Rock has made his first public reference to the incident at the Oscars where he was slapped onstage by Will Smith, while Oscars host Wanda Sykes has revealed Rock approached her at an afterparty to apologise.

Smith walked on stage and hit Rock after the comedian made a joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith. Smith went on to win the Best Actor award minutes later.

Performing a comedy set in Boston, Rock came onstage and immediately made a joking reference to the incident, asking the crowd, “How was your weekend?”

He then told the audience he did not have a lot to say about the slap yet, “so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend”.

“I’m still kind of processing what happened … at some point I’ll talk about that s***. It will be serious and funny.”

Rock apologised to hosts at Oscars afterparty

In an earlier interview on the Ellen DeGeneres talk show, Sykes — who co-hosted with Amy Schumer and Regina Hall — said she spoke to Rock after the show.

“As soon as I walked up to him, the first thing he said was, ‘I’m so sorry.’ I’m like, ‘Why are you apologising?” she said.

Rock then said to her, “It was supposed to be your night — you, Amy and Regina. Y’all were doing such a great job.

“I’m so sorry this is now gonna be about this.”

Rock is yet to speak publicly since leaving the Oscars stage.

Sykes ‘a little traumatised’

Sykes said the incident was “sickening” and that she felt physically ill at the time.

“I’m still a little traumatised,” Sykes said.

She also said she felt Smith should have been escorted out and not permitted to accept his award.

“For them to let him stay in that room and enjoy the rest of the show and accept his award, I was like how gross is this? This is just the wrong message,” she said.

The Academy has since said Smith refused to leave the event after it asked him to.

It is not clear if Sykes was aware that the Academy had asked Smith to leave.

‘The whole thing was so disturbing’

Schumer said she was “still triggered and traumatised,” in a now-deleted post on Instagram.

“So much pain in @willsmith anyway, I’m still in shock and stunned and sad,” she added.

“Waiting for this sickening feeling to go away from what we all witnessed.

“I love my friend @chrisrock and believe he handled it like a pro. Stayed up there and gave an Oscar to his friend @questlove and the whole thing was so disturbing.”

Upon returning to the stage after the incident, Schumer jokingly asked the crowd, “Did I miss anything?”

Smith apologised to Rock and others in a statement on Tuesday, saying he “reacted emotionally” to Rock’s joke about his wife.

The Academy condemned Smith’s behaviour and was weighing whether to take action against him.

If they conclude Smith violated its conduct policy, it could expel him from the organisation, revoke his Oscar or make him ineligible for future awards.

In other recent cases, such as that of disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, the academy revoked his membership but stopped short of taking away his Oscars.

ABC/Reuters