Jada Pinkett Smith Oh So Vaguely Addresses Chris Rock’s Oscars Diss

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Jada Pinkett Smith (Photo: Getty Images)

Jada Pinkett Smith boycotted the Oscars. But did she watch? Well, she’s at least familiar with the joke Chris Rock made at her expense during his monologue.

At the airport on Saturday, Smith was asked about the joke and responded, ever so vaguely:

“It comes with the territory, sweetheart,” she said, before asking the photographers to get out of her way. “Hey look, it comes with the territory but we gotta keep it moving. We gotta keep it moving. We gotta keep it moving. There’s a lot of stuff we gotta handle, a lot of stuff in our world right now. We gotta keep it moving.”

Smith decided to boycott this year’s Oscars after The Academy failed, for the second year in a row, to nominate any actors of color for awards. During the ceremony, host Chris Rock joked that, “Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited!”

Jada wasn’t the only member of the Smith family Chris Rock took aim at during the ceremony. He also joked that Jada’s “man Will was not nominated for Concussion. I get it. You get mad. It’s not fair that Will was this good and didn’t get nominated. You’re right. It’s also not fair that Will was paid $20 million for Wild Wild West!”

Will Smith has not spoken to Chris Rock’s jokes, but before the ceremony aired, he did speak on the controversy over lack of diversity in Oscar nominations.

“I think that diversity is the American superpower. That’s why we are great,” Smith said on Good Morning America. “So many different people from so many different places adding their ideas and their inspiration and their influences to this beautiful American gumbo and for me, at its best, Hollywood represents and then creates the imagery for that beauty. But for my part, I think I have to fight for and protect the ideals that make our country and make our Hollywood community great. So when I look at the series of nominations of the Academy, it’s not reflecting that beauty.”

Jada Pinkett and Will Smith were not the only stars to boycott the Oscars. Spike Lee also declined to attend and directors Ryan Coogler and Ava DuVernay opted to go to a fundraiser in Flint, Michigan, rather than the awards.