Howard Stern Compares Will Smith Chris Rock Slap to Donald Trump
The Oscars’ most shocking moment wasn’t a winner or loser. It was Will Smith slapping Chris Rock for making a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith. This was before Smith won the Oscar for Best Actor. The industry has been discussing the slap since they all watched it live. The following morning, Howard Stern weighed in, comparing Smith to Donald Trump.
Stern discussed Smith slapping Rock on his SiriusXM show on March 28. His co-host Robin Quivers agreed with him too. Smith apologized to Rock on his Instagram account later on March 28.
Why Howard Stern Thinks Will Smith is Just Like Donald Trump
Stern was a critic of former President Donald Trump. The host likened Smith’s ability to attack Rock in public to Trump’s attitude.
“This is how Trump gets away with sh**,” Stern said on his show. “Will Smith and Trump are the same guy. He decided he’s going to take matters into his own hands, at a time when the world is at war. Bad timing, man. Just calm your f***ing ass down.”
Quivers also shared concern that an event like the Oscars could escalate into an altercation.
“It shows where we are as human beings,” Quivers said. “You can’t even say something in a room without a war breaking out.”
Why didn’t security intervene between Will Smith and Chris Rock?
The other issue that bothered Stern was that there was no security to prevent such an instance from occurring. Even after slapping Rock, Smith sat in the audience for the rest of the show before and after accepting his own Oscar.
“Now the first thing I said to myself, what the F*** is going on?” Stern said. “Is this a bit? Because where’s security? This is a live television event. Not one person came out because he’s Will Smith.”
Other incidents have occurred on the live Oscars telecast before, such as a streaker in 1974.Stern questioned why security wasn’t on the floor.
“You don’t provide security?” Stern asked. “You don’t have someone come up there? Chris Rock was just trying to make people laugh at the f***ing ceremony, which was so long and boring.”
The Academy has opened a formal review of the situation. Stern also called out Hollywood hypocrisy for not addressing an issue in their own house.
“Here’s Hollywood that’s so outraged by every little thing,” Stern said. “Not one person got up and said, ‘Hold on, we got an out-of-control situation here.’”
Howard Stern worries about Will Smith’s mental health
Stern went on to worry about the state Smith was in to lash out so violently.
“This is a sign of great mental illness when you can’t control your impulse,” Stern said. “He didn’t think twice about what he was about to do. Now that’s crazy, when you can’t contain yourself like that.”
Stern also worried about the precedent Smith set.
“It’s like saying, ‘Well, I’ll shoot you because you insulted my wife,’” Stern said.
Diddy has said that Smith and Rock settled the matter at the afterparty. Stern credited Rock with maintaining his composure as well as he did, understandably flubbing the intro to Best Documentary but able to joke about “the greatest night in the history of television.” However, Stern thought the joke that started it all wasn’t even worth it.
“It was not even a good joke,” Stern said. “The joke, quite frankly, was beneath Chris Rock. It was a throwaway: ‘You look like G.I. Jane.’”
