Seat-filler super fans of Will Smith (played by Chris Redd) became positively petrified in an “SNL” Oscars sketch after the usually affable actor suddenly headed to the stage to deliver the slap heard ’round the world.
Redd returned to banter a bit with the fans (Kyle Mooney and host Jerrod Carmichael) before screaming at an imagined Chris Rock still on stage.
The fans then wanted nothing to do with him. When “Smith” asked Mooney’s name, he responded: “They didn’t give me one.” (Check out the video above.)
The bit was one of several on “Saturday Night Life” (beginning with the cold open) that addressed the shocking incident when Smith strode on stage last week and struck Rock in the face after the comedian made a joke about Smith’s wife’s shaved head.
Michael Che on “Weekend Update” quoted Smith’s defensive statement “Love can make you do crazy things” a short time later that night when he received his “Best Actor” Oscar for “King Richard.”
“Who know what else makes you do crazy things? Crazy,“ said Che.
Co-anchor Colin Jost noted that Smith giving up his membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made him a member of the “Bad Boys for Life Club,” which included Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein and Roman Polanski, who also “left” the Academy.
“Weekend Update” also featured guest O.J. Simpson (played by Kenan Thompson) to comment on the violent confrontation.
“You know me, Michael, I hate conflict,” Thompson explained. But he did finally make a “big” confession: “I didn’t watch them Oscars.”
The night’s host, comedian Jerrod Carmichael, took the issue on in his opening monologue — even though he didn’t once mention Smith or Rock’s names.
But the first thing he told the audience was: “I’m not going to talk about it.”
He added: “I talked about it enough, kept talking about it, kept thinking about it. You can’t make me talk about it … aren’t you sick of talking about it?”
