March 28 (UPI) — Celebrities are sharing their reaction to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars.
Will Smith walked onto the Oscars stage and slapped Rock in the face after the comedian made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair. The incident occurred as Rock was presenting the award for Best Documentary.
Smith then returned to his seat and told Rock to keep his wife’s name out of his mouth. Will Smith later won Best Actor for his role in “King Richard.”
“I want to apologize to the Academy. I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees,” Will Smith said during his acceptance speech. “Love will make you do crazy things.”
In a statement emailed to UPI, the Los Angeles Police Department said it was aware of the incident and that Rock has declined to press charges.
Amy Schumer, who co-hosted the ceremony with Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes, made a joke about the incident during the show.
“I’ve been getting out of that Spider-Man costume. Did I miss anything? There’s like a different vibe in here,” Schumer said, while giving a fist bump to Tiffany Haddish.
Haddish gave her thoughts on what happened to Entertainment Tonight at the Vanity Fair Oscars after-party.
“I would define tonight as a success. First of all, I seen a man stand up for his wife, which we don’t see that much anymore. That made me have hope,” Haddish said.
Conan O’Brien also joked about what happened and referenced how he no longer has a late night show anymore.
“Just saw the Will Smith slap. Anyone have a late night show I can borrow just for tomorrow?” O’Brien tweeted.
Will Smith and Jade Pinkett Smith’s son Jaden Smith also commented on Twitter after the incident and after his father won Best Actor.
“And That’s How We Do It,” he tweeted.
Kathy Griffin gave her thoughts on Twitter, calling it a bad practice.
“Let me tell you something, it’s very bad practice to walk up on stage and physically assault a Comedian. Now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theaters,” she said.
Mark Hamill used a hashtag on Twitter that called the incident the ugliest Oscar moment ever.
“Stand-up comics are very adept at handling hecklers. Violent physical assault… not so much. #UgliestOscarMoment_Ever,” Hamill said alongside a photo of Will Smith slapping Rock.
Variety got comments from Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Quinta Brunson and Kenya Barris on what happened as stars attended the Vanity Fair Oscar party.
“Sometimes human emotions happen. Sometimes human interactions happen. We can’t judge people based on their moments,” Rodriguez said.
“I’m from Philly. It felt very Philly to me. That’s all I have to say,” Brunson said, in reference to Will Smith also being from Philadelphia.
“There needs to be a clear distinction between work and home. We’ve gotten it confused,” Barris said.
