'SNL' takes on the Will Smith slap
- "SNL" referenced the Oscars incident between Will Smith and Chris Rock multiple times throughout Saturday's episode.
- The show took critical aim at Smith's decision to slap Rock following a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's hair.
"SNL" decided to lace their Saturday show with references to the instantly infamous altercation between Chris Rock and Will Smith at Sunday's Oscars.
From their cold open, which referenced the slap on a parody version of "Fox and Friends," to Jerrod Carmichael's opening monologue, the show's comedians took aim at Smith's decision to get on the Oscars stage and slap Rock.
A sketch with Chris Redd playing Smith imagines the slap from the audience's point-of-view, with Carmichael and Kyle Mooney playing seat fillers. The sketch points to Smith's films such as "Pursuit of Happyness," implying the slap did not fit the usual good-natured persona of Smith.
Carmichael's character is shocked to see his hero switch from happy-go-lucky to confrontational.
"Keep my wife's name out your fucking mouth," Redd yells to the fictional off-camera Rock before proceeding to pretend that "Everything is normal, y'all."
Smith ends off the sketch dancing to "Gettin' Jiggy with It."
The show also took a hit at Smith on Weekend Update. Colin Jost joked that the slap was "a disgraceful act that sets a terrible precedent for having to defend your wife at award shows."
Co-host Michael Che also took aim at the online discourse surrounding Jada Pinkett Smith's alopecia: "Can we stop pretending that everyone knew Jada had alopecia?" Che said.
The hosts also took aim at Smith with an interview of OJ Simpson, played by Kenan Thompson.