A joke Chris Rock made about Jada Pinkett Smith while he hosted the 2016 Oscars has resurfaced in the wake of the physical altercation at Sunday's 94th Academy Awards.

On Sunday night at the prestigious awards ceremony, 53-year-old Will Smith suddenly left his seat to slap the 57-year-old comic after the Everybody Hates Chris creator appeared to make a joke regarding his wife Jade Pinkett Smith's shaved head.

This was a sensitive area for the Smiths, with Pinkett Smith having been diagnosed with alopecia - an autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss.

However, this certainly isn't the first time Rock has made a joke at the actress' expense at the Academy Awards.

Check out Chris Rock's 2016 gag over Pinkett Smith not being "invited" to the Oscars:

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Back in 2016, Rock, the main host of the ceremony that year, made fun of Pinkett Smith's decision to boycott the event over the lack of diversity among Oscar nominees.

“Jada said she’s not coming,” said Rock at the time.

“I was like, ‘Isn’t she on a TV show?’ Jada’s gonna boycott the Oscars? Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited!”

He also said: “It’s not fair that Will was this good and didn’t get nominated. It’s also not fair that Will was paid $20 million for Wild Wild West!”

She later responded to her Madagascar co-star in an interview with X17, saying: “It comes with the territory, sweetheart. Hey look, it comes with the territory but we gotta keep it moving. We gotta keep it moving. We gotta keep it moving.

“There’s a lot of stuff we gotta handle, a lot of stuff in our world right now. We gotta keep it moving.”

Smith has since apologized to Rock after slapping the comedian and yelling at him to "keep my wife's name out your f***ing mouth."

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He said in a post on Instagram: "I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.

"I would also like to apologize to the Academy, the producers of the show, all the attendees and everyone watching around the world. I would like to apologize to the Williams Family and my King Richard Family. I deeply regret that my behavior has stained what has been an otherwise gorgeous journey for all of us.

Featured image credit: UPI / Alamy

Chris Rock's 2016 joke about Jada resurfaces after Will Smith slapped him at the Oscars