Will Smith, Chris Rock slap continues to get celeb commentary
Hollywood hasn’t stopped talking about the slap all week. So why would they stop at the Grammys?
A week ago, Will Smith became the subject of every headline, tweet, celebrity comment and “Saturday Night Live” joke after he slapped Chris Rock onstage at last Sunday’s Oscars over a joke the comedian made about Jada Pinkett Smith.
Since then, the new Oscar winner has apologized to Rock and withdrawn from Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the awards show. Rock first acknowledged the incident earlier this week at a comedy show (“I’m still kind of processing what happened”) and Pinkett Smith shared an Instagram post promoting “healing.”
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Here’s how stars at the Grammy Awards are continuing to weigh in on the infamous slap.
Jimmie Allen says ‘it’s none of my business’ on red carpet
On the red carpet, comedian Chelsea Handler told USA TODAY she thought Sunday’s show would be much more subdued on stage and predicts attendees will be more respectful of nominees and winners, asopposed to last week.
Country music artist Mickey Guyton, up for three categories this year, is still processing what happened at the Oscars, she said, also predicting nothing similar will happen at the Grammys.
“I wasn’t there,” country music singer and best new artist nominee Jimmie Allen said. “It’s none of my business.”
Questlove, whose film “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” last week won the Oscar for best documentary feature – the category Rock presented – did not appear to speak to any press while on the red carpet. (He also won best music film for “Summer of Soul” Sunday at the Grammys.)
Backstage at the Oscars last week immediately after the incident, Questlove appeared set on edge by the incident but declined to answer a reporter’s question about what happened.
“I’m not talking about that,” the musician-turned-director replied. “We’re very happy right now to accept this award.”
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Host Trevor Noah vows to keep ‘people’s names out of our mouths’
Comedian and late night host Trevor Noah returned to host the Grammys for the second year in a row and made a quick reference to Smith’s explicit comments at the Oscars during his opening monologue.
“It is going to be such a beautiful evening. Don’t even think of it as an award show — this is a concert where we’re going to be giving out awards,” Noah said. “We’re going to be listening to some music, we’re going to be dancing, we’re going to be singing, we’re going to be keeping people’s names out of our mouths and we’re going to be giving out awards all throughout the night.”
After slapping Rock, Smith shouted at the comedian to “keep my wife’s name out of your (expletive) mouth.”