British comedian Ricky Gervais let it be known that had he been in Chris Rock’s shoes on Sunday when Will Smith infamously smacked him during the live airing of the Academy Award, the actor would have had much better cause to act.
Rock joked about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith — who suffers from alopecia, which causes hair loss — starring in GI Jane 2 because of her shaved head. After first appearing to laugh at the joke, when his wife expressed her clear disapproval by rolling her eyes and throwing her head back, Smith would then storm the stage and slap the comedian.
Gervais addressed the incident while testing new material at a show north of London, according to the Mirror: “I’ll get it out of the way. I have not got any Will Smith material. I trended when that happened and I was not even there.”
This being a reference to his scorching monologue as emcee of the 2020 Golden Globes that went viral, in which he eviscerated Hollywood’s finest as hypocrites and perverts.
https://twitter.com/Clark1995Clark/status/1508094297006084101?s=20&t=wFbvxNhj2tZiLsoit3hk4A
“People were going, ‘What would have happened if Ricky Gervais had been doing it [hosting the Oscars]?’” Gervais added, before making it clear that he would have gone for the throat in joking about Pinkett Smith’s infidelity.
“Well, nothing,” he then said. “As I would not have made a joke about his wife’s hair. I would have made a joke about her boyfriend.”
There has been plenty of scrutiny of the Smiths’ marriage since the slap heard ’round the world, to include publicly admitted infidelity by Pinkett-Smith. There have also been reports about them being in an open marriage. Some say Smith has admitted to as much, but there are other claims that the Smiths have denied these claims. Pinkett-Smith did publicly acknowledge a fling with R&B singer August Alsina, who is more than 20 years younger than her, during an episode of her podcast that also featured her husband, calling the sexual romp an “entanglement.”
Many believe Sunday night’s debacle was a desperate attempt by Will Smith to reclaim his masculinity, having been publicly emasculated by his wife. Others said he should have been more concerned about who was having sex with his wife than defending her honor over a bad joke.
Gervais also joked that he might rename his tour in honor of the Oscars slap.
“This new material is going to be for my new show called Armageddon. I might change that to Alopecia,” he told the audience, according to the Mirror.
In a series of tweets posted Sunday, Gervais shared what he would have said if he was the Academy Awards emcee — this coming before the slap heard around the world:
Caution: Adult Language
“I’m proud to announce that this is the most diverse and progressive Oscars ever. Looking out I see people from all walks of life. Every demographic under the sun. Except poor people, obviously. Fuck them.”
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) March 27, 2022
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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