Jim Carrey Calls Hollywood “Spineless” for Applauding Will Smith at Oscars

While doing the press rounds in support of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Jim Carrey blasted the audience at the 2022 Academy Awards for giving Will Smith a standing ovation minutes after slapping Chris Rock. Carrey said he was “sickened” by the cheers when it was announced Smith won Best Actor for King Richard, and blasted Hollywood as a whole for being “spineless” about the incident.

“I was sickened by the standing ovation,” the actor told Gayle King, after being asked to share his opinion on CBS Mornings. “I felt like Hollywood is just spineless en masse and it really felt like this is a really clear indication that we’re not the cool club anymore.”

Carrey added that Smith “should’ve been” escorted out of the Oscars after slapping Rock and speculated that the comedian only declined to press charges because he “didn’t want the hassle.”

“I’d have announced this morning that I was suing Will for $200 million because that video is gonna be there forever, it’s gonna be ubiquitous,” Carrey said. “If you want to yell from the audience and show disapproval or say something on Twitter [that’s fine]. But you do not have the right to walk up on stage and smack somebody in the face because they said words.”

To close out his thoughts, Carrey said, “[The slap] came out of nowhere because Will has something going on inside him that’s frustrated. I wish him the best. I have nothing against Will Smith. He’s done great things, but that was not a good moment. It cast a shadow over everyone’s shining moment last night… It was a selfish moment.”

Check out Carrey’s comments at the 3:10 mark below.

Smith initially addressed the slap during his acceptance speech for Best Actor. “Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things,” he said, without apologizing to Rock. During an Oscars afterparty, he was spotted rapping and dancing along to his song “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It,” seemingly unfazed by the evening’s events.

He later issued a formal apology to Rock on the night after the Oscars. “Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable,” he wrote. “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.”

Meanwhile, Alec Baldwin recently gave his own thoughts about the incident on social media, expressing his concern for Rock and criticizing the producers of the Academy Awards.

Responses to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars have been divided — but Jenna Wortham (@jennydeluxe) says most people don’t have the full story of the incident.

“It’s something of a magnitude that I don’t think can be worked out on a public stage,” she says. pic.twitter.com/5qXIq30Y1F

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) March 29, 2022

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