Howard Stern says Will Smith and Trump 'are the same guy' following Oscars slap: 'He decided he's going to take matters into his own hands'
- Howard Stern compared Will Smith to Donald Trump.
- Following Smith's slap at the Oscars, Stern said the two men "are the same guy."
Howard Stern compared Will Smith to former US President Donald Trump while discussing the moment the actor slapped the comedian Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars on Sunday.
"He open-hand, with a lot of force, smacks him right in the mouth on TV," Stern said on his long-running SiriusXM radio show. "Now, the first thing I said to myself was, 'What the fuck is going on, is this a bit?' Because where is security? This is a live television event.
"Not one person came out, because he's Will Smith. This is how Trump gets away with shit. Will Smith and Trump are the same guy. He decided he's going to take matters into his own hands," Stern continued, before linking Smith and Rock's altercation to geopolitical events.
"At a time when the world is at war — bad timing, man," Stern said. "Calm your fucking ass down."
Stern isn't the first celebrity to offer an opinion about Smith's slap in response to Rock's joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
During an episode of "The View" this week, Whoopi Goldberg, who has hosted the Oscars four times and won best supporting actress in 1990, said she thought Smith "overreacted."
"He had one of those moments where it was like ... just stop," Goldberg said, adding: "I get it. Not everybody acts the way we would like them to under pressure. Some people just snap. He snapped."
In response to calls for the academy to take back the best-actor Oscar that Smith won for his performance in "King Richard," Goldberg said: "We're not going to take that Oscar from him. There will be consequences I'm sure, but I don't think that's what they're going to do, particularly because Chris said, 'Listen, I'm not pressing any charges.'"
Smith slapped Rock onstage after the comedian made a joke about Pinkett Smith's bald head. Pinkett Smith has alopecia, a hair-loss condition.
"Jada, I love you. 'G.I. Jane 2,' can't wait to see it," Rock said. In the 1997 movie "G.I. Jane," Demi Moore shaves her head.
On Monday, Smith posted an apology on Instagram.
"Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night's Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable," Smith said.
"Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada's medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally. I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris."
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Monday that it was opening a formal investigation into the altercation and would "explore further action and consequences in accordance with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct, and California law."