NEW YORK (REUTERS) - Comedian Chris Rock gave a glimpse of the provocative humour he may bring as host of the Oscars ceremony with a tweet about sports and reality TV celebrity Lamar Odom that drew both scorn and applause on Friday.

"Here's to Lamar Odom on being the first guy in history to have coke and hookers save his marriage," Rock tweeted to his 3.5 million Twitter followers, adding "Stay strong Lamar."

The tweet came in the week that Odom, 35, and his estranged wife Khloe Kardashian, 31, called off their divorce as the former basketball star recovers from collapsing into a coma at a Nevada brothel after reportedly using cocaine.

Rock, 50, was named this week as host of the 2016 Academy Awards ceremony in February.

It will be his second stint at the helm of the movie industry's biggest night after a 2005 performance that made headlines for his barbed comments about race and politics.

"Not sure if I should consider this inappropriate or hail you as a God damn genius," replied one man, Jeff Rothman.

"HAHAHA ! I love it..!!! That's the Chris Rock we know..Cheers!!" tweeted Fernando Zapata.

Others took Rock to task, with Posh saying "shame on u!!!," and Chanti tweeting "how insensitive."

Odom, a former National Basketball Association star player, is said to be making progress but faces a long period of rehabilitation, with concern over his kidneys and other organs, celebrity media has reported.

TMZ.com said he underwent two emergency surgeries in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Odom and Kardashian's 2009 courtship and marriage were featured in the reality shows Keeping Up With The Kardashians and Khloe And Lamar.

The couple split up in 2013 amid rumours of cheating and drug abuse by Odom but divorce papers signed in July were never finalised and were withdrawn earlier this week.