Last night (Mar. 27), Will Smith walked onstage during this year’s Oscars and proceeded to slap Chris Rock, who made an unsavory joke about Smith’s wife Jada mere moments prior. Since then, social media has been filled with people’s reactions, but we are also fortunate to hear some raw and honest feedback from people who attended the event themselves and saw it go down in person. Tiffany Haddish had a few things to say.

“When I saw a Black man stand up for his wife, that meant so much to me,” Haddish told PEOPLE at the Governors Ball following the ceremony. The actress, who starred in 2017’s Girls Trip with Jada, passionately defended the actions of Will and praised him for protecting his wife.

“As a woman, who has been unprotected, for someone to say, ‘Keep my wife’s name out your mouth, leave my wife alone,’ that’s what your husband is supposed to do, right? Protect you. And that meant the world to me,” continued Haddish. “And maybe the world might not like how it went down, but for me, it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen because it made me believe that there are still men out there that love and care about their women, their wives.”

Haddish then went on to point out that Chris Rock is “a friend” of Will and Jada, and questioned, “Why would you do that? He didn’t even run the joke by her, but she was hurt though. Would you do that for your wife? Would you say, ‘Keep my wife’s name out your mother fucking…’ Like, yes! Yes!”

“If she wouldn’t have been hurt, [Will] probably wouldn’t have said nothing,” said Haddish. “But you could see he was clearly… And they exploited it. They exploited her, so ‘I have to do something’… He protected his wife.”