Tiffany Haddish on the Oscars red carpet (Image credit: AFP)
Will Smith's smackdown of Oscar presenter Chris Rock was "the most beautiful thing" comedian Tiffany Haddish "has ever seen." This unpopular opinion was given by the Girls Trip star to People after the Oscars. Tiffany, who presented an Oscar herself, appears to be the sole voice of praise for Will Smith's altercation with Chris Rock in which he slapped and swore at the comedian on a live broadcast after Chris joked about Will's wife Jada. Chris made a GI Jane joke about Jada Pinkett's hair – she wears it shorn because of the medical condition alopecia – prompting Will to march onto stage, slap him and then yell, "Keep my wife's name out of your f*****g mouth."
Almost everyone who has commented on Slapgate has either condemned Will Smith outright or at least refrained from condoning his actions. Not Tiffany Haddish, however. "When I saw a Black man stand up for his wife. That meant so much to me," Tiffany told People, "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."
"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," Tiffany Haddish said.
"Most beautiful thing?" Mark Hamill begs to differ. He hashtagged his tweet response to Slapgate as #UgliestOscarMomentEver, writing: "Stand up comics are very adept at handling hecklers. Violent physical assault… not so much."
Comedian Rosie O'Donnell reserved her praise for Chris Rock – who kept calm and carried on at the Oscars and later declined to file a police report – and described Will Smith's behaviour as "a sad display of toxic masculinity from a narcissistic madman."
The Academy agreed with public opinion – it does not "condone violence of any form," read a brief tweet after the Oscars; a formal investigation has been launched and the Academy will decide on what consequences Will Smith will face for his public assault.
Will Smith won the Oscar for Best Actor minutes after slapping Chris Rock. He delivered a tearful speech and later apologized to Chris, the Academy, everyone who attended and watched the Oscars, his colleagues and the Williams family in an Instagram post – the 53-year-old actor won his Oscar for his performance as the father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams in King Richard.