The comic and former 'Tonight Present' host spoke to the Palm Seashore Day by day Information on Friday forward of his standup present on the Kravis Middle this weekend.
Jay Leno has weighed in on the incident eventually month’s Academy Awards, the place Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage after the comic made a G.I. Jane joke concerning the look of Smith’s spouse, Jada Pinkett Smith, who is thought to have alopecia.
The comic and former Tonight Present host, 71, referred to as Smith a “good man,” whereas explaining essentially the most troubling a part of the entire ordeal for him.
“To me, the factor that’s most annoying wasn’t the slap, as a result of he was sort of smirking after he slapped [Rock],” Leno informed the Palm Seashore Day by day Information on Friday, forward of his standup present this weekend on the Kravis Middle in West Palm Seashore.
“It was the yelling of the obscenities. Then you definitely go, ‘Whoa. What’s happening right here?’ That is actual anger.”
Leno additionally thought of the aftermath of the slap, which has included the Academy of Movement Image Arts & Sciences — after expressing its upset and outrage — launching a proper inquiry into the incident that might, apparently, take weeks to finish.
Chatting with the outlet, Leno posed the query: “What are you investigating?” He added, “It needed to be essentially the most recorded assault in historical past. I noticed the again of his shoe, I noticed Chris’ ear. There have been so many cameras on this incident. What are you investigating? I do know generally issues are simply what they look like.”
Smith, who apologized for his conduct to Academy members and his fellow nominees throughout his Oscars finest actor win for King Richard, and subsequently on to Rock in a social media assertion, introduced his resignation from the Academy on April 1, referencing his “stunning, painful and inexcusable” actions in a letter to the group.
Shortly after, the Academy’s board of governors dominated that Smith is banned from attending the Oscars or another Academy occasions for 10 years. He will probably be allowed to maintain the Oscar he was given for his efficiency in King Richard, and can stay eligible for future nominations and wins.