Steve Harvey Slams Will Smith Over ‘Punk Move’ at Oscars

Steve Harvey weighed in on Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, calling it a “punk move.” The Family Feud host made his comments on the slap-heard-around-the-world during a stop at Georgia State University on April 25. Attorney Mo Ivory invited him to the university after she taught a three-month course centered around Harvey’s career.

When asked about Smith’s slap, Harvey began by calling himself an “undeveloped” Christian. “On a scale of 1 to 10, I’m like a 2. That’s the level of Christianity I can work on,” Harvey told Ivory’s students, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You slap T.D. Jakes, he’ll turn the other cheek. You slap me? If you sit back in your seat, Jada [Will’s wife] would have to move out of the way. That’s the type of Christian I am.”

Harvey later said Smith’s slap was a “punk” move. “I lost a lot of respect for him,” Harvey said.

During the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, Smith walked up onstage and slapped Rock, who joked about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith having a shaved head. Smith then walked back to his seat and yelled at Rock twice, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f—king mouth.” Some thought the incident might have been staged, but Rock’s shocked response proved it was not. Audiences at home in the U.S. were also left confused because ABC’s broadcast censored most of the incident. It was not until clips from international broadcasts surfaced on Twitter that Americans finally learned what really happened.

Smith was allowed to stay in the Dolby Theatre for the rest of the ceremony. Moments after the slap, he even accepted the Best Actor Oscar for King Richard. Smith did not apologize to Rock until he posted a formal apology on his Instagram page. He later resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which in turn banned him from Oscars ceremonies for the next 10 years.

As for Harvey, he was invited to Georgia State University at end of Ivory’s course about legal concepts important in the entertainment industry. Ivory framed the course around Harvey’s career as a multi-hyphenate. He told students that hard work helped him find success and “covered up” his faults.

“I’ve always been running from my past. I spent three years living in a car. That was crushing,” Harvey told the students. “I can’t go back to that. Someone asked me why I buy such expensive cars. I say, in case all of this goes bad and I gotta live in my car again. At least I’ll be living in a real nice [expletive] car!”