‘Harder’ Will Smith Jokes Were Chopped Off From Oscars 2023, Confirms Executive Producer Reacting To Last Year’s Slapgate: “…That Should Be Chris Rock, Not Us”
Following his slap gate with Chris Rock, jokes on Will Smith were cut short at Oscars 2023. Read ahead to know more details!
Jokes On Will Smith Were Cut Short At Oscars 2023 ( Photo Credit – Wikimedia )
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Oscars 2023 was one of the most-awaited star-studded events, and it successfully ended without any mishap, unlike last year. The biggest takeaway from Oscars 2022 was Will Smith and Chris Rock’s slap gate after the latter cracked a joke on Jada Pinkett Smith’s baldness. While Smith was not present at Oscars 2023, as he was banned for ten years from the awards, jokes on his infamous incident made everyone crack up in the Dolby theatre. A producer from the award show recently revealed they had to cut short jokes on Smith.
Last year, Chris joked about the Matrix actor’s baldness and suggested she would star in the next film of GI Jane. As Jada was seemingly pissed by the joke, Will marched toward the stage and planted a slap on the comedian’s face. He later took the stage to deliver a long speech but did not apologise as he lifted the trophy for Best Actor for his role in King Richards.
Smith’s infamous incident became the highlight of the award ceremony last year, and even a year later, it is still being discussed. The executive producer of the show and Jimmy Kimmel’s wife Molly McNearney recently talked about why the runners cut short jokes on Will Smith and did not let her husband go “harder” with them.
In a recent interview with Variety, Molly said, “We didn’t want to make this year all about last year.” She further mentioned that the Academy had to get rid of so many jokes on the Pursuit of Happyness actor and added, “There were certainly some that went harder, but we didn’t think that was our place to do that. That should be Chris Rock, not us.”
While there were lesser jokes about the actor’s infamous incident, the runners did not want to ignore all the jokes and liked the idea of making “fun of the reaction to it last year.” Molly added, “I think we’re all still in a bit of shock of how that went down and how after watching that violence, everyone had to sit through an acceptance speech.”
During his monologue, host Jimmy Kimmel joked about Smith’s slap gate and said, “We know this is a special night for you. We want you to have fun. We want you to feel safe. And most importantly, we want me to feel safe. So we have strict policies in place.” He further took a dig at Smith’s Best Actor award and added if anyone were caught committing violence, they would be “awarded the Oscar for Best Actor and permitted to give a 19-minute-long speech.”
