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Whoopi Goldberg hasn’t been afraid to weigh in on the Oscars controversy involving Chris Rock and Will Smith, but she feels Smith will be okay in the long run.
In the opening discussion on Monday’s (April 4th) episode of The View, the panel spoke about the recently publicized developments that Netflix and Sony have put film projects starring the King Richard actor on hold. This was reportedly in response to Smith slapping Rock after the comedian made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith at the Academy Awards a week ago.
“Some of Will Smith’s future projects are in question. The question is does he have a path back? Yes, of course, he does,” Goldberg said to open up the discussion with her co-hosts, chuckling. “He’ll be fine, he’ll be back. No worries.”
Goldberg seemed to match the same spirit of her co-hosts, who are visibly weary of the topic taking up so much of the media spotlight. “I’m so tired of talking about this I’d like to slap myself,” Ana Navarro bluntly joked. She went on to say that more attention should be paid to the actions of SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni Thomas. “He’s had over 30 years of a career, where he’s had a very positive image, been a positive role model, he’s been very philanthropic, he’s done all sorts of things,” she argued. “None of us should be judged by our worst moment. We should be judged by our entire career. And yes, this is going to be with him the rest of his life. It’s going to be in his obituary. This is not going away. But should it define his life? Should it define his career? No, absolutely not. So I think Netflix and all those are making a mistake, and I hope they reconsider, because we should be able to separate his art from what he did.”
The EGOT winner agreed. “Everyone steps in poo at some point,” she said. Sunny Hostin expressed that some people have spoken out for Smith to receive express punishment because they “want to feel like they want to have a say with their dollars,” to which Goldberg emphasized her point of separating the art from the artist. “If they have done the work and it’s the best work, you can’t touch it. We don’t get these awards ’cause we’re nice people.”, she replied. Smith has since publicly apologized to Rock through social media, and resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
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