Amy Schumer Credits One Thing for Why Chris Rock Remained Composed After Will Smith Oscars Encounter

Amy Schumer recently praised her fellow comedian Chris Rock for keeping his composure after being slapped in the face by Will Smith at the 2022 Academy Awards. “The reason why Chris Rock could stand there, and get hit in the face, and then stay up there with composure and give his friend [Questlove] an Oscar is because he’s a comedian,” she said on The Howard Stern Show Wednesday. Schumer added that as a comedian, “Everything that you’re afraid of happens to you while you’re on stage, and then you’re just desensitized, so you’re not shocked by anything.”

Smith struck Rock onstage at the Oscars on March 27 in response to a joke he made about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head. Schumer noted that as she and Rock are friends, it was difficult “to see your friend get hit, and also Will Smith who I’ve loved and we’ve all loved forever. I don’t remember a time I didn’t think, ‘I love that guy,’” she said. “It was upsetting for so many reasons, and it was upsetting to everyone – everyone at home who didn’t even see what I saw.”

“It was shocking, and it was a bummer,” Schumer added. “For me, I had no thoughts of, like, how it affected me or my performance or anything. It was just upsetting as a person.” The actress told Howard Stern that she immediately thought Smith “must be in so much pain” and that she and Rock have texted since the incident. “I think he’s really smart; he’s not really addressing it. He’s a pro. He’s a sweetheart,” Schumer said of Rock.

However, she maintained that the incident “was so upsetting,” for her and that “people made fun of me for saying that it was traumatizing, but I don’t think it was traumatizing for me — I think it was traumatizing for all of us.” At a comedy show earlier this month, Schumer said that she and her co-hosts were doing well until Smith got on stage and awkwardly struck Rock. “It was just a f—ing bummer. All I can say is that it was really sad, and I think it says so much about toxic masculinity. It was really upsetting,” she added, per The Hollywood Reporter.