Just when we thought we had hard the last of the infamous Oscars slapping incident between Will Smith and Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards, Rock's former Saturday Night Live colleague Rob Schneider has jumped into the discourse, more than two years later.
Schneider made the remarks during an appearance on The Kyle & Jackie O Show on Australia's KIIS radio this week, explaining that he was in a "sticky situation," since he was an elected official of the SAG-AFTRA union at the time.
"Will Smith is a twat. Will Smith has been hiding the fact of who he really is and it was exposed that night that he’s really an a--hole," the Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo star said, slamming the Academy Award-winning actor.
“It’s a deep, dark thing, to do that in front of all those people and to a really great legendary comedian, who’s literally the best comedian of our generation," he continued. "You wouldn’t have this whole wave of comedy that came after if it wasn’t for Chris Rock. He’s kicked open the doors."
Schneider said that he wasn't permitted to say anything at the time, since he was part of the committee whose job it was to punish Smith, who ultimately was handed a 10 year ban from attending any Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences events.
When co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson interjected to express that she was shocked after having met Smith, who by all accounts seemed like "the nicest, most wonderful" guy, Schneider shot back: "He's a liar, complete utter fraud—it was exposed in that time."
"Will is a douchebag," he said, brushing off the possibility that Smith was simply under pressure, and suggested that the Academy's response was racially motivated. "The thing is that’s how politically correct the Academy is, that they were so cowardly, because if I would have done that, [I] would have been hauled off to prison."
“The point is, violence is what it is," Schneider said. "And what the color of your skin or your religion, it doesn’t matter, if you commit a crime in front of other people, you get hauled out of there."
The 60-year-old said that he had been directing a film in Mexico when the incident occurred and hadn't been watching live. "I was in a car and my assistant director, she looked at me and I said, ‘What happened?'" he recalled. "'Chris Rock just got slapped by Will Smith.’ I said, 'Get out of here, it didn’t happen.' I make the phone calls and it did happen."
"He didn't want to talk to anybody, I don’t blame him," Schneider added. "But also, it took him a while to get to where he could react to it because it was a lot. He’s a very sensitive, great guy and he’s literally a genius."
While it's unclear how Rock feels about the incident now, Smith, on the other hand, seems to be trying to move past the controversy by making light of it.
In Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which hit theaters last week, Smith parodied the moment on the big screen alongside his franchise co-star Martin Lawrence. The gag had critics divided, however after the movie swept up the box office, it seems safe to say fans have moved on.
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