Joe Rogan has offered his response to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, saying the incident “sets a terrible precedent for comedy clubs.”
On the latest episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, featuring martial artist Josh Barnett, the controversial media personality and comedian described Rock’s comment preceding the slap as a “mild joke.” Rock made a joke at the expense of Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, which she previously explained was due to her alopecia.
“First of all, that whole scene…is a great example of what’s wrong with the glorification of just being able to go up to someone and smack them in the face,” said Rogan near the start of the podcast clip above. “Chris Rock’s doing his fucking job. … There’s a professional comedian, who’s job is to roast people, that’s what he’s doing and what he did wasn’t even insulting. It was a mild joke.”
Rogan continued by opining there isn’t “any justification whatsoever of him getting up there and smacking him,” saying Smith acted on impulse when he was feeling “emotionally fragile.” The host also highlighted how awkward it must have been for others present at the awards show. “Everybody’s just gotta sit there in the shit that you just took on the table,” he said. “You just pulled your pants down and took a shit on the dinner table, and they all have to just sit there and look at that. That’s what it’s like. The whole idea behind it is completely irrational.”
Rogan said the Academy should have “100 percent” ejected the eventual Best Actor winner from the ceremony after the slap. “You can’t just go smack a man in the face in front of the world and go about business as usual. It sets a terrible precedent in so many different ways,” he said at the 10:30 point of the clip above. “It sets a terrible precedent for comedy clubs. Like, are people going to decide that they’re gonna go onstage and smack the comedian now?”
While Rogan said that he doesn’t think the incident will inspire many people to change their behavior, he does think “dumb people” might do so. “It’s like, what are we saying as a society when the people that we look up to, for whatever reason, for good or for bad, we look up to actors,” he said. “And the Academy Awards is supposed to be them in their most regal—their most regal outfits, their best behavior, and to drop down to violence for something so innocuous as a G.I. Jane joke.”
Since the awards on Sunday, a slew of big names have provided reactions to the now infamous moment. Oscars co-host Amy Schumer said the incident was “disturbing,” while Ja Rule appeared to take great joy in it. Chris Rock’s sales for his upcoming comedy tour, meanwhile, have seen a spike since the Oscars.
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