Jack Whitehall claims Will Smith’s Oscars slap has comedians ‘checking themselves when they write jokes’

‘My piece of advice is just be careful who you pick on’

Jack Whitehall has claimed that comedians hosting awards shows will be “checking themselves when they write jokes” after the 2022 Oscars.

During the awards show earlier this year, Will Smith slapped and swore at Chris Rock on stage after the presenter made a joke at the expense of his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Whitehall, who has hosted several awards ceremonies including the Brit Awards, discussed the repercussions of the Smith incident.

“I think hosts now going forward are definitely going to be checking themselves every time they write a joke for their monologues thinking that that’s happened,” he said.

“The only time anyone has ever actually got up on stage with me was quite scary... And the problem is when something like that happens, and you sort of saw it happen at the Oscars, most people think that it’s part of the show, so they don’t do anything.”

Whitehall then described the incident with an uninvited interloper on stage.

“So I had a guy who was up on stage with me in a headlock,” he said. “I felt quite vulnerable, but everyone was laughing in the room because they thought it was a bit. And then I caught out the corner of my eye the bouncers on the door, and they were laughing as well because they thought it was a set-up.

“So they wouldn’t have come up to my to my aid and that is slightly the problem with comedians, is when stuff goes wrong on stage, you always just assume that it’s part of a bit because no-one takes comedians seriously.”

He added: “My piece of advice – and this is what I’ve always said in awards shows – is just be careful who you pick on.”

Additional reporting by PA