Wanda Sykes Says Chris Rock Apologized to Her Over Will Smith Oscars Incident
The world is waiting to hear what Chris Rock has to say about the incident between him and Will Smith at the Oscars last weekend. Smith has already publicly apologized for slapping Rock over a joke Rock made at the expense of his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. But Rock himself has been silent on the matter — although he has the first shows of a standup tour tonight in Boston and, presumably, he’s going to say something about all this. How could he not?
One person Rock has talked to already is Wanda Sykes, who was one of the three hosts of the now-infamous 94th Academy Awards. During an appearance on Ellen, Sykes revealed that she bumped into Rock at one of the Oscars’ after parties. When she saw him, Rock apologized to her, even though he was the guy who got slapped.
“The first thing he said is, 'I'm so sorry.'” Sykes recalled. “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.’” Sadly, Rock was completely correct.
Sykes says she remains “traumatized” over the entire incident and finds it “gross” that the Academy allowed Smith to return to his seat and then accept his Oscar without being asked to leave the building. She says that while she did see Smith’s written apology to Chris Rock, she and her fellow hosts, Regina Hall and Amy Schumer, have yet to receive any sort of apology themselves.
You can watch Sykes’ full comments on the Oscars below.