The 94th Academy Awards will forever be remembered as the night that Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in the face. It's been called the most egregious celebrity encounter in the history of Hollywood and has left Will's fans and peers reeling.
While making an appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel gave his two cents on what transpired — stating plainly how he believes that Will has forever tarnished his reputation as "The nicest guy in Hollywood."
However, no one really seems to care that CODA took home "Best Picture" or the fact that Jane Campion became just the third woman ever to win "Best Director."
In case you've been off-planet these past few days, Chris Rock made a distasteful joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith's bald head — a joke that Will initially laughed at.
Will calmly got out of his seat, walked on stage, and preceded to slap Chris Rock across the face. As Will sat back down, he screamed at Chris "Keep my wife's name out your [expletive] mouth!"
During a recent appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Jimmy weighed in and shared some of his own thoughts and feelings regarding what took place.
Jimmy is of course making reference to his own tenure as Oscar host — when Warren Beaty incorrectly announced La La Land as "Best Picture" instead of Moonlight.
As far as Jimmy and Bill are concerned, what took place between Chris Rock and Will Smith might just be the craziest celebrity altercation in history.
The only thing that could even come close to being comparable, Jimmy argued, would've been if Tom Hanks rose up out of his seat and slapped somebody.
"I think he let his emotions get the better of him. This should've been one of the great nights of his life and now — it's not," the late-night host said bluntly.
"Now, he doesn't have a single comedian friend, that's for sure," the late-night host joked to Bill. Judging by the Twitter response, it appears that Jimmy is indeed correct.
Suffice it to say that Will Smith no longer has any friends left in the world of comedy. Not only that, but many (including Jimmy) feel as if he's done irreparable damage to his career.
The fact that Will's crowning career achievement now goes hand-in-hand with the worst thing he's ever done is almost paradoxical. It's impossible to predict what the future holds, but suffice it to say that Will isn't likely to be invited back to the Oscars any time soon.
