Amy Schumer, one of the three co-hosts at the 2022 Oscars (you may remember her dangling from the ceiling in a Spider-Man suit), hit Instagram late Tuesday night with what appeared, at first, to be a simple plug of her latest show, “Life & Beth” on Hulu, and a reminder that she’s taking her live act on the road this autumn. What came next, however, was Schumer’s attempt to unpack her feelings following Sunday night’s Oscars shocker: Will Smith slapping Chris Rock across the face.
“But for real,” she wrote in her caption. “Still triggered and traumatized.”
Schumer, who was not involved in any direct way with the incident, added, “I’m still in shock and stunned and sad. I’m proud of myself and my co-hosts. But yeah. Waiting for this sickening feeling to go away from what we all witnessed.”
She also gave a shout-out to Rock, Questlove, and, indirectly, seemed to offer some understanding to Smith, who interrupted Rock’s few moments of schtick with a hearty smack.
“I love my friend @chrisrock and believe he handled it like a pro,” she wrote. “Stayed up there and gave an Oscar to his friend @questlove and the whole thing was so disturbing. So much pain in @willsmith.”
Neither Wanda Sykes nor Regina Hall has weighed in.
“The Oscars Slap” remains the big story this week, inspiring essays from many points of view in various publications of note. For the New York Times, Wesley Morris wrote that considering the intense pressure of our times, we should realize by now that anyone can snap – including someone as conscious of his persona as Will Smith. (He also called “G.I. Jane” a work of “crypto-feminist trash.”) Tayo Bero at The Guardian wrote that all reactions must be interpreted through the lens of racial identity, despite the fact that both the slapper and the slappee were, indeed, the same race. “There’s something that feels precious at best, and downright racist at worst, about white people’s reaction to the now-infamous smack,” she wrote. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took to his Substack and was blunt: “[Smith] advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the entertainment industry, and perpetuated stereotypes about the Black community,” he wrote.
While essays are always good food for thought, Jimmy Kimmel pointed out in his monologue on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” that some are taking this a bit too far, like one journalist pestering the White House communications director Kate Bedingfield to see if Joe Biden would comment on the incident, or Lawrence Jones going on Fox News suggesting this was really all a stunt. “I just don’t see it happening,” Jones said, suggesting this was a ruse by Rock to boost ticket sales for his forthcoming tour. “The rest of us saw it happening!” Kimmel responded.
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