Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock Left Oscar Hosts Wanda Sykes & Amy Schumer 'Traumatized'
Two of the three Oscar co-hosts have spoken out about what they saw when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at Sunday's show after the move seem to have derailed the night's festivities.
Wanda Sykes and Amy Schumer both described it as a traumatic experience in comments after the show, though co-host Regina Hall has not yet shared her thoughts.
"I just felt so awful for my friend, Chris," Sykes told Ellen Degeneres on Wednesday. "It was sickening. I physically felt ill, and I'm still a little traumatized by it," she said.
"For them to let him stay in that room and enjoy the rest of the show and accept this award, I was like, 'How gross is this?'"
Amy Schumer also condemned the moment earlier this week in a now-deleted Instagram post.
The comedian wrote that she is proud of herself and her co-hosts, but said she is "waiting for this sickening feeling to go away from what we all witnessed."
First, she joked that the best way to move forward is to watch her upcoming show on Hulu. "But for real. Still triggered and traumatized."
Schumer has since updated her Instagram to simply read: "I think we are all gonna be processing tonight for a while."
Sykes, Schumer and Hall had handed the stage over to Rock before the slap happened.
Rock made a joke at Jada Pinkett Smith's expense, and that prompted Will Smith to take the stage and slap him, before sitting down again and yelling at him from afar.
Schumer used one of her last appearances on the broadcast to briefly acknowledge that the "vibe" had changed in the room after the slap.
The incident overshadowed the latter part of the night, including the Best Documentary Oscar that Rock was on stage to hand out.
That award went to Questlove for Summer of Soul, and while the director has said he missed the slap incident, one of his co-winners was not pleased with Smith's antics.
"I think what Will did was selfish," producer Joseph Patel, who shared in the Oscar win, wrote in a now-deleted tweet. "It robbed the category of its moment."
Smith was not kicked out after the incident and he later accepted the Oscar for Best Actor.
The Academy has said it's reviewing the incident and that Smith could face discipline for his actions.
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