Oscars cohost Wanda Sykes joined Ellen DeGeneres on Wednesday to discuss what happened when actor Will Smith slapped presenter and comedian Chris Rock — and Sykes, who said she was sickened by the whole affair, admitted that since it happened Rock was the only person who had thought to apologize to her.
During “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in a clip posted on YouTube, the host asked the Oscars’ co-host to breakdown where she was when the “Men In Black” star walked on stage and struck Rock in the face at the 94th Academy Awards after the comedian cracked a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head amid her hair loss battle.
“It’s a big deal when you get to host the Oscars and for something like what happened with Will [Smith] and Chris [Rock] it takes away from so many things,” DeGeneres shared. “It took away from Questlove’s win for the documentary [Summer of Soul]. It took away from the Williams family.”
The host noted that Smith has since apologized for striking Rock, stating that he was both “out of line” and “wrong.”
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That was when DeGeneres turned to Sykes, asking her to explain where she had been when Smith slapped Rock. The 58-year-old comedian said she and fellow co-host Regina Hall had introduced Chris, after which she rushed off to her trailer to get changed because she wanted to catch her pal Rock do his bit in the theater.
Sykes said between the time she left her trailer and got back to the theater it had already happened, and all she caught was the “King Richard” star walking off the stage and cursing at Rock from his seat to keep the star’s wife’s name out of “his f***ing mouth.” Someone then had to show Sykes what she had missed.
“And I just felt so awful for Chris, my friend,” Sykes shared. “And it was sickening. I physically felt ill. And I’m still a little traumatized.”
“Me too,” Ellen replied.
“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,” Wanda said. “This is just the wrong message. 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,” she added, noting that she, Hall and Amy Schumer were the hosts of the night, it was their job to make sure everyone had a good time. “And no one has apologized to us. We worked really hard to put that show together. Like the industry itself, like what the hell is this?”
DeGeneres agreed and said it wasn’t “an example” to set.
“You don’t let someone do something like that and get away with it and be rewarded, ” Ellen told Sykes who agreed.
Later, the “Evan Almighty” star revealed she ran into Rock at a party after the show and he made it a point to apologize to her, which Sykes said she found surprising.
“And as soon as I walked up to him the first thing he said was ‘I am so sorry,'” Sykes shared. “And I’m like why are you apologizing. And he said ‘it was supposed to be your night, you and Amy and Regina. You 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.”
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