'The View': Whoopi Goldberg Defends Will Smith Standing Ovation at Oscars

By Stephen Andrew

The incident involving Will Smith and Chris Rock at the Oscars has had the whole world talking, including the panelists of The View. One of the more controversial elements of the night was Smith receiving a standing ovation when he won the Best Actor award. The View moderator Whoopi Goldberg recently defended the move, saying, "You're up before you even know you've done something stupid."

Goldberg replied to conservative guest panelist Tara Setmayer, who condemned the ovation, saying, "Now just take a minute – do you really think the audience was applauding him hitting Chris Rock? I think it was just people got up and did dumb stuff because they thought OK everybody is up." On Thursday, Goldberg commented on the news that award show producers had asked Smith to leave after he walked on stage and hit Rock over a joke that referenced Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. "He actually was. He was asked to leave."

Goldberg was not in attendance at the event, but she explained, "There are things that I do know." When pressed by her co-panelists as to why Smith was not forced to leave, simply asked, Goldberg said, "They come back from back from break, now if [Smith] is in some sort of state and he's struggling and you're trying to get him out the door and it's on camera." She went on to add that producers did consider the chances that Smith was experiencing "a manic moment, because that's not what he's known for, smacking people and stuff."

Following the violent outburst, Smith took to social media to issue an apology. "Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada's medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally," he wrote on Instagram. "I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness."

Smith added, "Violence in all forms is poisonous and destructive." The actor also apologized to "the Academy, the producers of the show, all the attendees and everyone watching around the world," as well as Venus and Serena Williams and their families, as it was his role in the biopic King Richard about them and their father that landed him an Oscar. "I deeply regret that my behavior has stained what has been an otherwise gorgeous journey for all of us," Smith concluded. "I am a work in progress."

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