Questlove Jokes About Everybody Staying ‘500 Feet’ Away From Him After Oscars Fiasco

The Will Smith and Chris Rock debacle during the 2022 Oscar Award ceremony for this year will go down in history as one of the most controversial nights during the 94-year history of the ceremony. Questlove, a member of the Philadelphia Grammy-famed band The Roots, won the award the same night in question for the Best Documentary of the year. But being part of history and its overall greatness, Questlove refuses to let his hometown history-making comrad overshadow his night. The Roots meber took the stage inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas to announce one of the biggest awards of the night for Song of the Year during the 2022 Grammy Awards before he decided to address his experience at the Academy Awards just a week before. “All right, I am going to present this award and I trust that you people will stay 500 feet away from me,” he joked. “And you know, this is now a special moment for someone. And we’re going to make a memory for them tonight.” 

It’s not the first time anyone from Questlove’s camp has spoken out. Joseph Patel, one of the producers of the award-winning documentary Questlove was part of, said in a now-deleted tweet that Smith’s actions “robbed” him and his team of their moment. As The Jasmine Brand reports, he tweeted, “It robbed the category of its moment. It robbed the other excellent and amazing films of their moment to be acknowledged in what was a STRONG year for docs.” 

Patel was also offended by Rock’s jokes. The filmmaker, who is of South Asian descent, took offense to Rock announcing the winning team as Ahmir Thompson (Questlove) “and four white guys.” “Chris Rock lumped me in as 1 of ‘4 white guys,’” he said. “The reason that makes me SO SO VERY ANGRY is because I was so proud to be one of a handful of South Asians to have ever won an Oscar in the history of the award. I’m a big boy — I can take a joke. Comedians make jokes. But not in that moment. What a shitty, disrespectful thing to do. What both Will AND Chris did really stained what should have been a beautiful moment for us.”