Days after the Oscars, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes—who both hosted the event alongside Regina Hall— have added to the growing mountain of responses, criticism, and hot takes regarding that Chris Rock and Will Smith slap.
On Instagram, under a picture of herself, Schumer penned a caption that, at first, started as plug for her upcoming tour and her new Hulu series Life & Beth. “I think we can all agree that the best way to unpack what happened is to stream my series @lifeandbethhulu and see me on tour this fall,” she wrote.
However, she quickly shifted gears and addressed the big moment. “But for real. Still triggered and traumatized,” she wrote. “I love my friend @chrisrock and believe he handled it like a pro. Stayed up there and gave an Oscar to his friend @questlove and the whole thing was so disturbing. So much pain in @willsmith anyway I’m still in shock and stunned and sad. Im proud of myself and my cohosts. But yeah. Waiting for this sickening feeling to go away from what we all witnessed.”
Sykes’ full response will come during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show set for April 7. But in a teaser for the upcoming episode, Sykes tells DeGeneres, “I just felt so awful for my friend Chris.”
“It was sickening. I physically felt ill and I’m still a little traumatized by it,” she continues. “And for them to let him stay in that room and enjoy the rest of the show and accept his award—I was like, ‘How gross is this?’ This is just the wrong message. You assault somebody, you get escorted out of the building and that’s it. For them to let him continue, I thought it was gross.”
Rock declined to press charges against Smith, but the Academy announced that its Board of Governors will be coming together in order to “make a determination on appropriate action for Mr. Smith.”