The world continues to give their take on Will Smith following this past weekend’s Oscars telecast, which saw the King Richard award winner slap Chris Rock, on stage, over a joke that the comedian made in regards to Jada Pinkett Smith‘s hairstyle. The latest celebrity to speak on the matter is Jim Carrey, who recently appeared on “CBS Mornings” with Gayle King to promote Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Simply put, he’s absolutely floored by Smith‘s actions, the (lack of) response from the show’s producers, and the applause from fellow peers during Smith‘s acceptance speech following his Best Actor award win:
“I was sickened. I was sickened by the standing ovation, I felt like Hollywood is just spineless. En masse. … It really felt like, ‘Ah, this is a really clear indication that we’re not the cool club anymore.'”
He also felt that Smith should have been escorted out of the venue after the incident and, while he understands Rock‘s subsequent decision to not file charges, hit with the largest legal consequences possible:
“[Rock] doesn’t want the hassle. I’d’ve announced, this morning, that I was suing Will Smith for 200 million dollars, ’cause that video is gonna be there forever. It’s gonna be ubiquitous. You know, that insult is gonna last a very long time … if you wanna yell from the audience and disapprove or … say something on Twitter, or whatever, you do not have the right to walk up on stage and smack somebody in the face ’cause they said words.”
He continued following King’s opinion the conflict was an escalation, to which he disagreed:
“It didn’t escalate. It came outta nowhere because Will has something going on inside him that’s frustrated … I wish him the best, I really do … I don’t have anything against Will Smith. He’s done great things. But that was not a good moment … it cast a pall over everybody’s shining moment last night.”
Watch Jim Carrey’s full interview below.