As Amy Schumer lamented about being “traumatized” over Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Academy Awards, her Oscars co-host Wanda Sykes has followed suit. Sykes is a veteran comedian who knows Rock well and although he has remained silent since the incident, Skyes has offered insight into what occurred after the show.
Fans expect Rock to address the violent altercation during his Boston comedy show this evening, but ahead of the performance, Sykes sat down to share her side of the story on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
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Sykes stated that she “felt so awful for my friend Chris.”
“It was sickening. It was absolutely—I physically felt ill, and I’m still a little traumatized by it,” said the actress. “And for them to let him stay in that room and enjoy the rest of the show and accept his award, I was like, ‘How gross is this?’ This sends the wrong message. If you assault somebody, you get escorted out the building and that’s it. But for them to let him continue, I thought it was gross.”
“I hope he doesn’t mind me saying this, but I saw Chris at [Guy Oseary’s after party] and as soon as I walked up to him, the first thing he said is, ‘I’m so sorry.’ I was like, ‘Why are you apologizing?’ He was like, ‘It was supposed to be your night. You and Amy and Regina were doing such a great job. I’m so sorry this is now gonna be about this.'”
Sykes believes that she, Schumer, and fellow co-host Regina Hall deserve personal apologies.
“We were the hosts, right? So we were, this is our house, we’re inviting you in, we’re hosts, we’re gonna take care of y’all tonight and make sure you have a good time,” said Sykes. “And no one has apologized to us. We worked really hard to put that show together, so just the industry itself, I’m like, ‘What the hell is this?'”
Watch her feature on Ellen below.