Photo Credit: NBC
After a full week of non-stop talk about Will Smith’s Oscar’s slap, the only place anyone really wanted to hear talk about it to finally put it to bed was Saturday Night Live. The host, Jerrod Carmichael who just came out as gay came out on stage and said, “I’m not gonna talk about it,” and without even naming a subject or name, everyone knew what he was referring to.
Chris Redd re-enacted the slap as Will Smith with Carmichael as a seat filler and avid fan. He told Redd how much of a fan he was and that Gettin Jiggy with It was his ringtone to this day. He asked for a selfie right as the Chris Rock joke played and Redd asked him to hold on a moment while he got up to get on stage. Upon his return, Carmichael was so shocked and horrified, when asked to still take his selfie, he said he deleted his phone. His friend and fellow seat filler Kyle Mooney. When he shouted “Oh my God we’re sitting next to Will Smith,” he realized he was trending. After seeing what for, he had just been asked for his name. At that point he said, “I don’t — they didn’t give me one.”
The show’s cold open involved commentary from former President Trump, played by James Austin Johnson appearing on one of his favorite shows, Fox & Friends. He appeared alongside the show’s cast Alex Moffat, Heidi Gardner and Mikey Day as the hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade; Kenan Thompson and Kate McKinnon as Justice Clarence Thomas and Ginni Thomas; and Cecily Strong as Judge Jeanine Pirro.
“I did see slap,” Johnson said as Trump. “I enjoyed slap. I was very impressed by Hitch. Quite an arm on Hitch. I always knew Hitch had an arm.” Still he explained how it was a sad night. “That kind of behavior is not going to help Kevin James get a date with Allegra Cole, I’ll tell you that,” he explained.
And of course that wasn’t the last of the Smith jokes. Given how so many have acted as if this were the end of the world and we’re all susceptible to Will Smith’s violence with the social contract with America being reset, it was good to witness some lighthearted fun on the subject. He had already resigned from the Academy and further punishment is currently being sought so that matter is being taken care of. Anyone who thought it wouldn’t is a fool. You’re not getting up smacking anyone in a formal event and you’re just going home in peace. That’s not going to happen. And we’r e not going to turn into a 3 Stooges society of slapstick comedy everywhere (pun intended).
