Nate Bargatze presents Grammy wearing helmet: ‘Comedians have to wear these now at awards shows’

The comedian poked fun at Will Smith’s infamous altercation with Chris Rock at the Oscars last week

Comedian Nate Bargatze alluded to the Will Smith Oscars slap by wearing a helmet to present at the 2022 Grammy Awards in Las Vegas.

“I need to caution everybody, remain in your seats and keep your hands to yourself,” Grammys host LeVar Burton said onstage at the pre awards ceremony today (April 3) while introducing Bargatze, also appearing to reference the Oscars incident.

Bargatze then walked on stage wearing a large black helmet, drawing laughs from the audience.

“They said comedians have to wear these now at awards shows during the joke parts,” he said. “It doesn’t even cover your face, I think it just focuses where you would hit me.”

The comedian then took the helmet off, saying “alright, this is stupid”, before presenting the award for Best Spoken Word Album.

Bargatze is himself nominated at the 2022 Grammys for Best Comedy Album.

At the Oscars last week (27 March), Smith strode on stage to hit Chris Rock after he made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

While Smith claimed that he was defending Pinkett Smith from a joke about her alopecia diagnosis, a source close to Rock says he “had no idea” about it. Smith, who faces disciplinary action from the Academy, announced his resignation from the awards body on Friday (1 April).