Wanda Sykes Reveals Chris Rock Apologized to Her After Oscars About Will Smith Incident

The 94th Academy Awards was a night of firsts. It was the first time three women hosted the annual event, the Academy handed out its first-ever Oscar to an openly queer woman of color, and Troy Kotsur became the first Deaf man to win an acting Oscar. Yet most are talking about the altercation between Chris Rock and Will Smith, after the latter rushed the stage to slap Rock after a joke at Jada Pinkett Smith’s expense.

Now, comedian Wanda Sykes — one of the hosts for the night — is opening up about her experience with the situation. According to her, Rock apologized for the scenario at an afterparty the two found themselves at.

“I hope he doesn’t mind me saying this, but I saw Chris at [Guy Oseary’s after party] and as soon as I walked up to him, the first thing he said is, ‘I’m so sorry,’” Sykes said at a stop at The Ellen Degeneres Show. “I was like, ‘Why are you apologizing?’ He was like, ‘It was supposed to be your night. You and Amy and Regina were doing such a great job. I’m so sorry this is now gonna be about this.’”

“Because that’s who Chris is,” she added.

After the “sickening” slap, Sykes says she felt physically ill.

“It was sickening. It was absolutely— I physically felt ill, and I’m still a little traumatized by it. And for them to let [Will] stay in that room and enjoy the rest of the show and accept his award, I was like, ‘How gross is this?’ This sends the wrong message,” she continued. “If you assault somebody, you get escorted out the building and that’s it. But for them to let him continue, I thought it was gross.”

The host went on to say that she felt herself and her two co-hosts, comedians Regina Hall and Amy Schumer, deserved an apology from Smith and those involved with the show.

“We were the hosts, right? So we were, this is our house, we’re inviting you in, we’re hosts, we’re gonna take care of y’all tonight and make sure you have a good time,” Sykes concluded. “And no one has apologized to us. We worked really hard to put that show together, so just the industry itself, I’m like, ‘What the hell is this?’ “

Cover photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images