Questlove has seemingly chimed in on Will Smith’s infamous Oscars slap — and like the rest of us, he’s tired of talking about it.
via People:
On Friday morning, the musician, 51, seemed to address the incident, where Will struck Rock after the Saturday Night Live alum made a joke about the King Richard star’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith during the awards ceremony.
“Can we FINNNNNNNALY stop talking about it?” Questlove tweeted, seemingly referring to the Oscars moment.
Questlove was in attendance at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for Sunday night’s ceremony, where he took home the Oscar for best documentary feature for his film Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).
Alongside Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent, and David Dinerstein, he accepted the award right after the incident between Will, 53, and Rock, 57.
While presenting at the Oscars, Rock took a moment to crack a few jokes, including one about Jada’s shaved head. The comedian compared her appearance to that of Demi Moore’s look in G.I. Jane.
Jada, 50, who recently opened up about living with alopecia, was captured visibly unamused by cameras, rolling her eyes from her seat. Seconds later, Will walked onstage and approached Rock, smacking him in front of the audience and millions watching the telecast at home.
Back at his table, Will shouted to a stunned Rock: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f—ing mouth.” Will went on to win best actor for his role in King Richard, while Rock chose not to press charges.
Will has since apologized to Rock, writing in a lengthy Instagram post on Monday, “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong.”
“I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness,” he added. Will has since resigned from the Academy.
Questlove appeared on The Tonight Show a day after the Oscars, where he opened up to host Jimmy Fallon about the entire ordeal (The star serves as the frontman for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’s house band, The Roots).
While Questlove was presented his Oscar after a brief commercial break following the incident, the drummer said he was completely unaware of the chaos that preceded his big moment.
“Of course, [winning the award] happened in the cyclone of a whole other situation with two very good friends of mine,” Questlove said of Rock and Will. “I really wasn’t aware of that.”
“It’s weird to say, because they tell you ahead of time, ‘This is your category,’ so in that moment, you’re either going to be full of anxiety or, for me, I’ve been meditating for the last two years,” he added.
Questlove said he was also meditating in his seat when the scuffle between Will and Rock occurred. “So when I opened my eyes, I was like, ‘Why is everyone so quiet?’ I literally was not present for that whole entire moment,” he recalled.
“As I’m walking to the stage, I’m kind of putting two and two together, and I realize that that was a real moment maybe three seconds before I spoke words,” he continued. “But in my mind they’re just doing a sketch or whatever and I’m like, ‘OK, Ahmir, remember to thank your mom, dad,’ so I was not present at all.”
Days after the 2022 Oscars, Patel said that Will “robbed” him, Questlove, and the other filmmakers of their celebratory feat.
“It robbed the category of its moment,” the producer wrote in since-deleted tweets. “It robbed the other excellent and amazing films of their moment to be acknowledged in what was a STRONG year for docs.”
The filmmaker later added that he was also upset with how Rock announced Summer of Soul as the Oscar winner. When Rock announced the award, he said the winner was “Ahmir Thompson and four white guys.”
Patel, who is of South Asian descent, tweeted, “Chris Rock lumped me in as 1 of ‘4 white guys,'” which angered him. He added on Instagram that he was proud to be the third South Asian to win an Oscar that evening.
“The reason that makes me SO SO VERY ANGRY is because I was so proud to be one of a handful of South Asians to have ever won an Oscar in the history of the award,” he tweeted. “I’m a big boy — I can take a joke. Comedians make jokes. But not in that moment. What a s—y, disrespectful thing to do.”
“What both Will AND Chris did really stained what should have been a beautiful moment for us,” Patel continued.
We have a feeling this saga will, unfortunately, continue throughout the rest of the month.
Can we FINNNNNNNALY stop talking about it?
— ?st (@questlove) April 1, 2022
