David Oyelowo says he's concerned the Will Smith slap will have a 'negative effect' on the 'ongoing push for inclusion'

• David Oyelowo expressed "fear" at the "negative effect" of the Oscars slap on the "push for inclusion."
• The "Selma" actor was in attendance at the Oscars when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage.

David Oyelowo has said he is concerned about the "negative effect" Will Smith's Oscars slap could have "on the ongoing push for inclusion."

During the 94th Academy Awards, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith potentially appearing in a "G.I. Jane" sequel, a reference to her bald head. The joke was regarded by many as insensitive because Pinkett Smith has alopecia, an autoimmune hair loss disorder.

Writing in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter, Oyelowo said that after witnessing the slap in person, he felt "confronted by the same rising anxiety all Black people feel when the face that flashes up on the news after a crime is reported, is a Black one."

"You find yourself thinking, "What does this mean for us?" "What does that mean for me?"" he wrote. "In the wake of George Floyd's murder, the entertainment industry made a lot of pledges to increase the diversity of our business. Some intentional. Some ceremonial."

Oyelowo recounted speaking to "an older white gentleman" during the Oscars afterparty who said Smith "should have been dragged right out of there."

"You may well agree with that sentiment, but it's not what he said, it's the way he said it," the "Selma" actor wrote. "I know that relish. I know that demeanor, and it is ugly to its core in all of its coded messaging."

"My fear is that this unfortunate incident, which has us all processing, will have a negative effect on the ongoing push for inclusion," he continued. "There are those who, in a bid to make sure something of this nature never happens again, will operate through an unconscious — or conscious — bias."

Oyelowo wrote that "it would be naive to assume that the incident between Will Smith and Chris Rock will not be pushed, by some industry professionals, through the lens of race."

"Some of them will be the same folks who resisted the inclusion measures Cheryl Boone Isaacs and her supporters at the Academy managed to push through and which led to a more diverse Academy," he wrote.

In the aftermath of the slap, Smith resigned from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences after they launched a formal investigation into the incident. The investigation is ongoing.