Hollywood’s biggest night took place on Sunday as the 94th Academy Awards saw some big wins for CODA, Dune, and more. However, it wasn’t the award-winning films that had the Internet talking the next day. Shortly before he won the Best Actor Oscar for King Richard, Will Smith went on stage and slapped presenter Chris Rock over a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. The incident has divided the Internet, and many celebrities have weighed in on the altercation, including the event’s hosts. Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall hosted the event and Sykes recently visited The Ellen DeGeneres Show and opened up about the slap.
“I just felt so awful for my friend Chris. And it was sickening, absolutely sickening,” Sykes told DeGeneres in a clip from her episode, which will air on Thursday. “I physically felt ill, and I’m still a little traumatized by it,” she added. “And for them to let him stay in that room and enjoy the rest of the show and accept his award, I was like, ‘How gross is this? This is just the wrong message.’”
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Skyes continued, “You assault somebody, you get escorted out the building and that’s it. For them to let him continue, I thought was gross.” She recalled, “I’m like, ‘What happened? What happened?’ Everyone was like, ‘Oh, my God,’ … then Will just starts cursing from his seat, ‘Keep my wife’s name out [of your f*cking mouth]’ whatever, and I just was like, ‘Is this really happening?’ And then someone showed me on the video; yeah, he smacked Chris.”
“I know he apologized to Chris, but I believe that, you know, we were the hosts,” Sykes explains. “This was our house; we invited you in; we were gonna take care of you all and make sure you had a good time. And no one has apologized to us. And we worked really hard to put that show together. The industry itself, I’m like, ‘What the hell is this?’”
Sykes also revealed that Rock apologized to her at an Oscars after-party.
“I hope he doesn’t mind me saying this but, I saw Chris at Guy [Oseary’s afterparty] and as soon as I walked up to him, the first thing he said was, ‘I’m so sorry. It was supposed to be your night. You, and Amy and Regina, y’all were doing such a great job; I’m so sorry this is now going to be about this.’ Because, that’s who Chris is.”
While both Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith have shared posts on social media in the wake of the altercation, Rock has yet to address the incident publicly. The Academy has claimed they have opened up an investigation into how best to handle the exchange.
