Will Smith’s slap of Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards has spawned everything from a comedy special about it, a ban for 10 years for Smith, and more. According to Wanda Sykes, the Fresh Prince knew he was wrong immediately for putting his hands on the comedian and called her personally to apologize.
In a new profile for “Variety,” Sykes, 61, reflects on the end of her comedy series “The Upshaws” on Netflix, why she hardly talks politics with her friends in the age of Trump, and that infamous night in 2022.
“I forgot about that,” Sykes says about the event, which she co-hosted with Amy Schumer and Regina Hall. Ultimately, what should have been a historic night for the trio and Questlove for his Best Documentary win was overshadowed by Smith, Rock, and the slap that shook up Hollywood after Rock made a “GI Jane” joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith.
“I mean, I loved working with Regina [Hall] and Amy [Schumer]. But like you said, it got overshadowed,” Sykes recalled while looking back at the evening. “People talk to me about that night without even mentioning, ‘Oh yeah, you hosted, right?’ Like I was in the audience or at home, watching TV. But I was there.”
Sykes admitted that Smith reached out to her for an apology, but the two never spoke.
“He called. I had COVID or a bad cold,” she said. “I just texted to say, ‘Hey, I got your message. Thank you. I can’t talk.’ But he did call.”
The admission is a change from Sykes, who stated in previous interviews that Smith hadn’t reached out. In a 2022 chat on “The Ellen Show,” Sykes told fellow comedian Ellen DeGeneres, “No one has apologized to [the hosts], and we worked really hard to put that show together.”
Sykes did say Rock apologized to her at the Oscars afterparty, but she deemed it unnecessary.
“I was like, ‘Why are you apologizing?’ He was like, ‘It was supposed to be your night. You and Amy and Regina were doing such a great job. I’m so sorry this is now gonna be about this,’” she told DeGeneres. “Because that’s who Chris is.”
Elsewhere in the profile, Sykes recalls the moments leading up to her discovery that Jimmy Kimmel had been suspended from his show on ABC, where she was set to appear as a guest.
“I was doing some last-minute makeup. My publicist called and said he’d been preempted, and they didn’t know when he would come back,” she recalled. “I was like, “Well, what did he say?” I was texting with him. A lot of people work on that show. Jimmy was like, “I have a lot of people to protect.” It was a real — I don’t want to say a wake-up call, because we were aware of how bad things were. But this is crazy now. I still don’t see how what he said was outlandish or hurtful.”
Still, Sykes isn’t fully backing down from discussing Trump on stage. She scoffed at the idea when asked if she would censor her comedy in current times.
“You can’t really censor yourself like that and give people a good show. I can’t. So I don’t.”
