Wanda Sykes thought ‘How gross is this?’ after Will Smith lost it at the Oscars

Oscars co-host Wanda Sykes says she felt sick after Will Smith smacked her buddy Chris Rock within the closing hour of the awards broadcast.

“I simply felt so terrible for my buddy, you recognize, Chris and it was — it was sickening. It was completely — I bodily felt ailing and I’m nonetheless slightly traumatized by it,” Sykes mentioned Wednesday on “The Ellen DeGeneres Present.”

“And for [the Academy], to let him keep in that room and luxuriate in the remainder of the present and settle for his award. I used to be like, ‘How gross is that this? That is simply the mistaken message,’” she mentioned. “You assault any individual, you get escorted out the constructing. And that’s it, you recognize. However for them to let him proceed, I assumed — I assumed it was was gross.”

For many who’ve been in hiding: In the course of the Oscars, proper earlier than Questlove received the documentary function award for “Summer season of Soul,” presenter Rock riffed on the celebrities seated up shut, making a “G.I. Jane” joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head. She didn’t admire the humor, so Will Smith walked onto the stage and smacked Rock within the face.

Lower than an hour later, the “King Richard” star gave a tearful acceptance speech as he accepted the Oscar for lead actor.

Whereas at expertise supervisor Man Oseary’s Beverly Hills residence for the expertise supervisor’s elite Oscars after-party, Sykes mentioned, she noticed Rock. As she walked as much as him, the very first thing he did was apologize to her for the scene on stage, she mentioned. Then he praised her and co-hosts Regina Corridor and Amy Schumer for doing “a fantastic job.”

“And I’m like, why are you apologizing,” she mentioned, “and he’s like, ‘It was alleged to be your evening.’”

DeGeneres, who hosted the Oscars in 2007 and 2014, advised her visitor that she ought to really feel proud.

“It’s an enormous deal. It’s a bucket listing while you get to host the Oscars, and for one thing to occur, like what occurred with Will and Chris, it takes away from so many issues,” DeGeneres mentioned.

Sykes mentioned that though Smith and the academy have apologized to some people, she has but to listen to any apology apart from Rock’s that was directed at her and her co-hosts.

“We had been the hosts, proper? … ‘That is our home. We’re inviting you in. We’re hosts. We’re holding — we’re gonna handle y’all tonight. Be sure you have a very good time.’ And nobody has apologized to us. And we labored actually onerous to place that present collectively,” Sykes mentioned.

Co-host Amy Schumer additionally spoke out in regards to the incident Wednesday, saying on Instagram that she nonetheless feels “triggered” by it.