Will Smith wasn’t in attendance at the Oscars this year after the actor slapped presenter Chris Rock last year. The slap followed a joke made about Jada Pinkett-Smith’s expense. That didn’t stop Will Smith’s name from coming up. A lot. Jimmy Kimmel, hosting his third Academy Awards ceremony, made several cracks about the incident in his opening monologue.
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Kimmel covered everything from telling the crowd that there was an incident response team to saying that any would-be attacker would have to get through actors like The Rock, Michelle Yeoh and Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield).
He also made reference to it again before the award for Best Documentary — which was when the slap happened in the show last year. Here’s his opening monologue segment:
Jimmy Kimmel jokes about last year's #Oscars slap during his opening monologue pic.twitter.com/QRkHyAfm4T
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 13, 2023
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