Music
Trevor Noah Opens Grammys With Joke About Will Smith’s Oscars Slap
Trevor Noah opened Sunday night’s Grammy Awards ceremony with a reference to Will Smith’s Oscars slap the previous week.
The King Richard star made headlines around the world after hitting presenter Chris Rock live on stage following a joke at the expense of his wife, Jada. Returning to his seat, Smith shouted, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth!”
Like many people watching the incident unfold from home, Noah responded with shock and disbelief over Twitter, writing: “Wtaf????? That wasn’t scripted?????”
Wtaf????? That wasn’t scripted????? 😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) March 28, 2022
Now, commencing the 64th Grammy Awards a week later, the Daily Show host couldn’t help but make a thinly veiled reference to the altercation.
“Don’t even think of this as an award show,” said Noah. “It’s a concert where we are giving out awards. We will be listening to music, dancing, singing, keeping people’s names out of our mouths and we are going to give people awards all through the night. So let’s get straight into it.”
Another person who didn’t shy away from mentioning the incident was Questlove, who won his Oscar for Best Documentary Feature immediately after Smith’s slap.
Preparing to announce the winner of Song of the Year, Questlove said, “All right, I am going to present this award and I trust that you people will stay 500 feet away from me. As they say, it is far better to give than to receive. Well, I’m not so sure about that because last Sunday it felt pretty good to receive.”
Following the Oscars, Smith announced that he was resigning from the Academy and issued a public apology to Rock for his behaviour. The Academy, which “condemned his violent actions”, is continuing its review of the incident.
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