Whoopi Goldberg reveals what she thinks happened with Will Smith in the moments after he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars — and defended the “stunned” audience for giving him a standing ovation later in the show.
There’s been a discrepancy as to whether or not Smith was asked to leave after striking Rock during Sunday’s show. The King Richard actor obviously didn’t and went on to collect the Best Actor award — which is when he got the standing ovation.
The Academy said Wednesday that Smith was asked to leave, but refused. That led to questions about how hard producers tried to make that happen — and why he wasn’t told to leave. Then on Thursday, both Variety and TMZ, citing unnamed sources present at the show with direct knowledge of how it played out, refuted that Smith was asked to leave. Will Packer, who produced the Oscars, actually told him not to go, TMZ reported.
It was dissected on Thursday’s The View with co-host Sunny Hostin saying it shows “an incredible amount of entitlement” that Smith refused to exit the Dolby Theatre. She wondered how forcefully he was asked to go, noting most people would be told, “Come with me,” and be ushered out. In this case, it sounded like it was presented as a polite suggestion that he go.
“I don’t think that’s how it went down,” moderator Goldberg — an Oscar winner and Academy member who’s on the Board of Governors — replied. “I think that he was asked to leave.”
Asked by guest co-host Tara Setmayer why he was given an option, Goldberg said it would have been a scene on live TV had he been dragged out.
“I’m gonna tell you why he had the option,” Goldberg said. “Picture: They come back from break. Now, if he’s in some sort of state and he’s struggling and they’re trying to get him out the door — and it’s still on camera.”
Goldberg went on to say working on a live show is tricky, seemingly referencing her own recent flub that led to her The View suspension.
“We work a live show every day and stuff happens,” she said. Things “come out your mouth or you do something stupid and you have to sit there and deal with it. I can’t imagine what was going on [Oscars night]. I wasn’t there … But I do know the only person anybody should be focusing on, in my opinion, is Will Smith.”
When it was brought up by Setmayer that Hollywood needs a lot of self-reflection after this — seeing as Smith got the standing ovation shortly after the slap — Goldberg defended the audience.
“Those people who were there were stunned,” Goldberg said. She said they stood up and clapped for Smith — like they did for other winners throughout the night — “before you even know you’ve done something stupid. I’m telling you what folks have said who were there.”
She added, “Do you think they really were applauding him hitting Chris Rock? … I think it was just people did dumb stuff… I give the benefit of the doubt because I’ve been in these situations.”
Goldberg took offense to Setmayer saying it was the ovation that fuels the argument that “Hollywood elites are a bunch of hypocrites.”
“I just want to stop with this ‘elite’ stuff,” she said. “A lot of us work for a living. We work. We collect a check. We got families. We try … to do the good stuff that everybody else tries to do. It really pisses me off … Please, when you’re talking about actors, be specific. If you’re pissed off about somebody and how they act, don’t put it on all of us — cause that’s like saying all Black people like chicken.”
They ended by applauding how Rock handled everything — and how easily it could have escalated had he not responded in the calm manner he did.
“Oh my god — can you imagine?” Goldberg said. “Let us take a moment to praise the good thing about the Academy, which was Chris Rock … Let’s talk about that because that’s the best of the Academy.”
