Wanda Sykes revealed she is still ‘traumatized’ over Will Smith’s actions at the Oscars, after he slapped Chris Rock on stage.
The showbiz world was rocked by the scenes on Sunday which saw the King Richard actor confront the comedian over a joke he made about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair.
Discussing the incident during an appearance on the Ellen Show, Wanda – who hosted the ceremony with Regina Hall and Amy Schumer – slammed bosses for allowing Will to later return to the stage to collect his best actor award.
‘I just felt so awful for my friend Chris. It was sickening. I physically felt ill and I’m still a little traumatized by it,’ the 58-year-old said.
‘And for them to let him [Will] 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”.
‘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.’
Speaking of Will’s Instagram apology, she continued: ‘I know he apologized to Chris but we were the hosts, right? 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.
‘And no one has apologized to us. We worked really hard to put that show together. Like the industry itself, I’m like, “What the hell is this?”’
Wanda recalled bumping into Chris later in the evening, and shared that he was full of sorrow towards the presenters as the night had undoubtedly been overshadowed.
‘I hope he doesn’t mind me saying this, but I saw Chris at Guy [Oseary]’s party,’ she added. ‘As soon as I walked up to him, the first thing he said is, “I’m so sorry.” 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.’
The Academy has launched a formal investigation into what happened on Sunday night, with questions raised over why Will was allowed to stay in the audience.
Speaking about the incident on The View, Whoopi Goldberg – a governor for the Academy Awards – insisted that there will be ‘big consequences’.
‘Let me say this, there are consequences. There are big consequences because nobody is okay with what happened. Nobody, nobody, nobody,’ she told her fellow panellists on Tuesday.
‘What’s happening is people are now starting to calm down and say, “Wait a minute, what could have triggered this?”’
Explaining why he wasn’t asked to leave, the Ghost actress added: ‘Because that would have been another 15-20 minute explanation of why we’re taking the Black man out, five seconds before they’re about to decide whether he’s won an Oscar or not.
‘I believe [producer] Will Packer made the right decision. He said, “Let’s get to the rest of this so we can deal with it wholeheartedly.”
‘This is not the first time craziness has happened onstage, but this is the first time we’ve seen anybody assault anybody onstage.’
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