Ticket sales spike for Chris Rock after Will Smith slap during Oscars – National | Globalnews.ca

Ticket sales for Chris Rock’s latest tour have spiked since the comedian was slapped by actor Will Smith during the Oscars on Sunday.

That’s according to ticket sites TickPick and StubHub.

In a statement emailed to Global News on Wednesday, TickPick said over 50 per cent of its sales for Chris Rock’s tour — which went on sale on Feb. 24 — have come since the Oscars.

The online ticket marketplace also said TickPick has seen 88 per cent of sales for the tour come through since Sunday night’s Academy Awards.

A spokesperson for the company said the price of tickets for his shows has also increased.

Before the Oscars, TickPick said tickets for Rock’s show at Wilbur Theatre were selling for around $50.
However, by Tuesday afternoon, the cheapest ticket for that show rose to $518.

“Now that show is sold out however the Toronto show still has tickets available with the cheapest currently being $113,” the email read.

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Brett Goldberg, TickPick co-founder and co-CEO, said the “circumstances surrounding the incident at the Oscars continue to cause demand to surge for Chris Rock’s tour.”

Goldberg said the company expects the trajectory “to continue.”

Similarly, StubHub, a ticket resale company, said it too was seeing an uptick in demand for Chris Rock’s upcoming shows.

In an email to Global News, StubHub said cumulative sales over the last three days for Chris Rock’s tour are “more than double the total sales” the company has seen in March.

According to StubHub, since Sunday, the average price of tickets for Rock’s Toronto show jumped by “nearly 100 per cent on Stubhub” from around $267 a ticket, to $525 a ticket.

Rock is scheduled to perform in Toronto at Scotiabank Arena on June 18.

Smith shocked the Dolby Theatre crowd and viewers at home on Sunday when he took the stage during Rock’s remarks after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, Smith’s wife.

Rock said, “Jada, I love you. `G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it.”

Pinkett Smith, whose head is shaved, has spoken publicly about her alopecia diagnosis. Smith strode on stage and slapped Rock across the face.

Smith has apologized for the incident, issuing a statement saying he was “out of line,” and that his actions “are not indicative of the man I want to be.”

— with files from the Associated Press