Whoopi Goldberg On Oscar Slap: “There Are Big Consequences Because Nobody Is OK With What Happened”

Whoopi Goldberg, moderator of ABC’s The View and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors, said today that she accepts Will Smith’s apology for slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars on Sunday, but she added: “There are consequences. There are big consequences because nobody is OK with what happened. Nobody, nobody, nobody.”

Goldberg also explained why producers did not publicly console Rock during the telecast and said she supported producer Will Packer’s decision to not eject Smith from the event.

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Watch the entire View segment below.

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In The View‘s second day of discussing The Slap, Academy Governor Goldberg — a former Oscars host and an Oscar winner — said today that she would not disclose details about what the Academy had discussed or was planning as a response to the headline-making incident.

“I’m not going to talk to you about what’s going on with the Oscars,” Goldberg said in response to co-host Sunny Hostin, who broached the subject of taking away the Oscar Smith won Sunday. “There should be some sort of consequence,” Hostin said. “It shouldn’t be taking his Oscar, it shouldn’t be cancelling him…”

At that point, Goldberg interjected, “Let me say this: There are consequences. There are big consequences because nobody is OK with what happened. Nobody, nobody, nobody. What’s happening is people are now starting to calm down and say, ‘Wait a minute, what could have triggered this?’ Could have been the four years ago, could have been anything.” (The “four years ago” was a reference to prior jokes Rock made about Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.)

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Goldberg also addressed why no one appeared onstage to approach or comfort Rock after the slap, while various stars, including Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry, consulted with Smith during the first commercial break following the incident.

“The thing I also need to tell people is that the reason no one got up to go comfort Chris is because they weren’t going to let anyone else on stage. … There were people there for Chris.”

She went on to say that the reason people went over to Smith is “people thought. ‘Oh my God, is he having a break? Do we need to get him out? What do we need to do?’”

Goldberg explained that the reason producers did not remove Smith from the event is “because that would have been another 15-, 20 minute-explanation about why we’re taking the Black man out five seconds before they’re about to decide whether he’s won an Oscar or not.”

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“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,’” Goldberg continued. “This is not the first time craziness has happened onstage, but this is the first time we’ve seen anybody assault anybody onstage.”

Hostin then said that while everyone is talking about Smith — “and we should be” — “we need to also talk about Chris Rock, because what’s been playing over and over again is his assault. Internationally on television. His family is seeing that, his children are seeing that. It’s terrible. We have to keep him in mind because he was the victim here.”

Goldberg responded: “He was the victim here, but let’s also know that everything that needed to happen that evening, happened. Chris took care of business. And he is the adult who said, ‘You know what, I get it, and I’m going to let this do what this needs to do.’”

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Later in today’s episode, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) was asked for his take on the Oscar incident, and said: “First of all, a lot of us who are in public life know that there are going to be cruel jokes, and I’ve never been one to endorse that kind of humor. I think the best of our comedians, which I’ve seen Chris Rock do, are ones that highlight injustices, call our attention and engage us in a way with the absurdities of the injustices of this world. But nothing at all justifies violence, and what we saw was violence that night and it was very, very disappointing. But again, let’s all extend grace. … We have all made mistakes, and the totality of who Will Smith is and who Chris Rock is was not defined by what I thought was a very unfortunate and low moment for the Oscars and for all of us.”

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