It’s been three days since the Slap Heard Round the World, and Hollywood is no closer to reaching a consensus opinion about what happened on Oscar night.
In case you somehow haven’t heard, Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Academy Awards after the comedian made a joke about Will’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Rock compared Jada’s hairstyle to that of Demi Moore in GI Jane.
The comic was reportedly unaware that Jada suffers alopecia areata, which is the medical term for hair loss.
Chris and Will have both been in Hollywood for several decades and have amassed many celebrity friends during their time in the industry.
So it comes as no surprise that quite a few celebs have come forward on behalf of their preferred combatant.
The latest A-lister to speak out is Jim Carrey, who voiced his opinion during an interview with Gayle King that aired on CBS on Tuesday.
“I’d have announced this morning that I was suing Will for $200 million,” said Carrey.
“Because that video’s gonna be there forever. It’s gonna be ubiquitous. That insult is gonna last a very long time,” the comic continued.
“I was sickened. I was sickened by the standing ovation,” he said. “I felt like Hollywood is just spineless en masse. And it really felt like this is a really clear indication that we’re not the cool club anymore.”
That last part is a little more cryptic than the comic’s other comments.
Does he mean that Hollywood used to be a land of rebellious iconoclasts but has now become a bastion of spineless conformists?
That would jibe with some of the comments other celebs have made, including comedian Nikki Glaser, who also condemned stars who allegedly refuse to stand up for what’s right for fear that doing so might have consequences for their career.
“People say, ‘How did Weinstein get away with that for so long? How did that happen?’ and it’s like, we just witnessed it!” Glaser told Howard Stern on Tuesday.
“Everyone saw an assault take place. Everyone in the room with their own eyes. And then if you would have tuned in 20 minutes later, you would have never known that happened.”
On the whole, comedians seem to be overwhelmingly Team Rock.
Amy Schumer — who hosted the Oscars alongside Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall — broke her silence on Tuesday with a statement offering support to her fellow comic.
“I love my friend @chrisrock and believe he handled it like a pro. Stayed up there and gave an Oscar to his friend @questlove and the whole thing was so disturbing. So much pain in @willsmith.”
“I’m still in shock and stunned and sad. I’m proud of myself and my co-hosts. But, yeah. Waiting for this sickening feeling to go away from what we all witnessed.”
For his part, Carrey pointed out that there are numerous ways that Smith could have expressed his disapproval of Rock’s joke without resorting to violence:
“If you wanna yell from the audience and disapprove … or say something on Twitter or whatever [, go ahead],” he argued.
“You do not have the right to walk up on stage and smack somebody in the face ’cause they said words.”
King agreed with Carrey but noted that Smith might have acted impulsively due to the speed at which the argument escalated.
“It didn’t escalate. It came out of nowhere because Will has something going on inside him that’s frustrated,” Carrey said.
“And I wish him the best, I really do. I don’t have anything against Will Smith. He’s done great things, but that was not a good moment.”
Carrey concluded by noting that Smith overshadowed the other winners with actions that “cast a pall over everybody’s shining moment.”
“It is no mean feat to go through all the stuff you have to go through when you’re nominated for an Oscar,” he explained.
“It’s a gauntlet of devotion that you have to do. It was just a selfish moment that cast a pall over the whole thing.”
On Monday, Smith apologized for his assault, but Rock has remained silent on the issue.
We’ll have further updates on this developing story as more information becomes available.
Source: HollyWood Gossip
