Jim Carrey Calls Oscar Audience ‘Spineless’ For Will Smith Standing Ovation

Jim Carrey has something to say about Will Smith’s behavior at the Oscars. While appearing on CBS Mornings, Carrey said he was “sickened by the standing ovation. Hollywood is just spineless en masse and it really felt like this is a really clear indication that we aren’t the cool club anymore.”

Carrey also said Smith should have been arrested but, as host Gayle King pointed out, Chris Rock declined to file charges. “He didn’t want the hassle,” Carrey said of Rock, who was slapped on camera by Smith after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s appearance. “I’d have announced this morning that I was suing Will for 200 million dollars because that video is going to be there forever, it’s going to be ubiquitous. That insult is gonna last a very long time. If you want to yell from the audience and show disapproval or say something on Twitter, you do not have the right to walk up on stage and smack somebody in the face ‘cuz they said words.”

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When King suggested the incident “escalated,” Carrey cut her off by saying “It didn’t escalate, it came out of nowhere because Will has something going on inside him that’s frustrated.”

“I wish him the best, I really do,” he continued. “I don’t have anything against Will Smith. He’s done great things. But that was not a good moment. It cast a pall over everybody’s shining moment. A lot of people worked really hard to get to that place. And to have their moment in the sun, to get their award for the really hard work they did, it is no mean feat to go through all the stuff you have to go through when you are nominated for an Oscar. It’s a gauntlet of devotion you have to do. It was such a selfish moment that cast a pall over the whole thing.”

Smith posted an apology Monday on his Instagram account. No word yet from Chris Rock.

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