The 94th Academy Awards will forever be remembered as the night that Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in the face. It’s been called the most egregious celebrity encounter in the history of Hollywood and has left Will’s fans and peers reeling.
While making an appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast , late-night host Jimmy Kimmel gave his two cents on what transpired — stating plainly how he believes that Will has forever tarnished his reputation as “The nicest guy in Hollywood.”
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This whole week, headlines all over the world have been dominated by talks about the 94th Academy Awards.
However, no one really seems to care that CODA took home “Best Picture” or the fact that Jane Campion became just the third woman ever to win “Best Director.”
All that anyone seems to want to discuss is the now-infamous “Hitch-Slap” incident that took place between Will Smith and Chris Rock.
In case you’ve been off-planet these past few days, Chris Rock made a distasteful joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith’s bald head — a joke that Will initially laughed at.
However, once Will recognized the hurt that Chris’ comment caused Jada, he quickly changed his tune.
Will calmly got out of his seat, walked on stage, and preceded to slap Chris Rock across the face. As Will sat back down, he screamed at Chris “Keep my wife’s name out your [expletive] mouth!”
As the dust continues to settle, various celebrities in Hollywood have begun making their opinions on the matter known, including late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
During a recent appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast , Jimmy weighed in and shared some of his own thoughts and feelings regarding what took place.
Jimmy began by joking about how Chris and Will had stolen the title of “Craziest Oscar Moment” right from under him.
Jimmy is of course making reference to his own tenure as Oscar host — when Warren Beaty incorrectly announced La La Land as ” Best Picture ” instead of Moonlight.
He then continued on, likening the disbelief of the moment to the time when Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield’s ear.
As far as Jimmy and Bill are concerned, what took place between Chris Rock and Will Smith might just be the craziest celebrity altercation in history.
Jimmy made a point that Will’s reputation as being “The nicest guy in Hollywood” further compounds the issue.
The only thing that could even come close to being comparable, Jimmy argued, would’ve been if Tom Hanks rose up out of his seat and slapped somebody.
“In a way, I feel bad for Will Smith, too,” Jimmy said to Bill.
“I think he let his emotions get the better of him. This should’ve been one of the great nights of his life and now — it’s not ,” the late-night host said bluntly.
“Was there anyone who didn’t like Will Smith an hour ago; in the world?” Jimmy asked rhetorically.
“Now, he doesn’t have a single comedian friend, that’s for sure ,” the late-night host joked to Bill. Judging by the Twitter response, it appears that Jimmy is indeed correct.
Tim Allen, Rainn Wilson, David Spade, and many more have all let their thoughts on the matter be known.
Suffice it to say that Will Smith no longer has any friends left in the world of comedy. Not only that, but many (including Jimmy) feel as if he’s done irreparable damage to his career.
“And he probably wishes he had one of those ‘Men In Black’ memory erasers right now,” Jimmy said during his opening monologue.
The fact that Will’s crowning career achievement now goes hand-in-hand with the worst thing he’s ever done is almost paradoxical. It’s impossible to predict what the future holds, but suffice it to say that Will isn’t likely to be invited back to the Oscars any time soon.
