SICKENED: Jim Carrey Speaks Out, Slams Will Smith Over Oscars Slap; Says He Would Have Announced “Lawsuit for $200 Million” by Morning

LOS ANGELES, CA –  In an interview with CBS News’ Gayle King on Monday, famed actor and comedian Jim Carrey reacted to the now infamous incident at the 2022 Academy Awards on Sunday evening where Will Smith slapped presenter Chris Rock on live television after he made a joke about his wife’s appearance.

During the award show, presenter Rock had poked fun at the shaved head of Jada Pinkett-Smith – Will Smith’s wife – who suffers from alopecia, saying, “G.I Jane 2, can’t wait to see it.”

In response, Smith – who just minutes later would win the Best Actor Oscar for his role in King Richard – immediately walked onto the stage during the live broadcast and slapped Rock in the face, drawing stunned gasps from the audience. Smith would then return to his seat, only to then berate Rock by screaming “Keep my wife’s name out your f**king mouth!”

While speaking with Gayle King on Monday, Carrey, 60, expressed his disappointment not only in Smith’s actions, but the positive reaction of his fellow members of the Hollywood elite in the audience when Smith won his Best Actor award… just a short time after having witnessed him assault a man in front of them all.

“I was sickened by the standing ovation. I felt like Hollywood is just spineless en masse, and it just it really felt like this is a really clear indication that we’re not the cool club anymore,” he said.

King noted that Rock had declined to press charges against Smith, and noted that the Men in Black actor’s celebrity status had saved him from a trip to jail, an opinion that Carrey wholeheartedly agreed with.

“I would have announced this morning that I was suing Will for $200 million dollars, because that video is going to be there forever…it’s going to be ubiquitous,” the Ace Ventura star said. “You know, that insult is going to last a very long time. If you want to yell from the audience and disapprove, or say something on Twitter or whatever, you know, but you do not have the right to walk on stage and smack somebody in the face because they said words.”

Carrey also echoed the sentiments recently expressed by legendary satellite radio host Howard Stern, who had ripped Smith as being “clearly insane” over the Oscars incident.

“It came out of nowhere because Will has something going on inside him and he’s frustrated and I wish him the best, I really do,” Carrey said. “I don’t have anything against Will Smith, he’s done great things but that was not a good moment.”

Carrey concluded his comments by noting that the attack of Rock during the broadcast had “cast a pall over everyone’s shining moment” that evening, noting the hard work that actors have to go through in order to be nominated for an Academy Award, saying that “it was just a selfish moment” on Smith’s part.