Comedians blast Will Smith slap of Chris Rock: ‘He could have killed him’

nypost.com:

tagging Chris Rock with a audible, on stage slap during the Oscars after Rock made a hair-loss joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia.The caught on camera affair — one that prompted the “King Richard” Academy Award winner to yell “keep my wife’s name out your f–king mouth” to Rock after — was no laughing matter for some of the industry’s most known jokesters who have since sounded off, condemning the attack.“He could have killed him,” comedy director Judd Apatow wrote in a now-deleted tweet republished by Variety editor-at-large Kate Aurthur. “That’s pure out-of-control rage and violence.

They’ve heard a million jokes about them in the last three decades. They are not freshman in the world of Hollywood and comedy,” Apatow added. “He lost his mind.”Comedian Kathy Griffin — who was subject to her own violence promoting controversy in 2017 after posing with a bloodied and dismembered mannequin of President Donald Trump’s head — also condemned Smith for the unscripted moment of passion.“It’s a very bad practice to walk up on stage and physically assault a Comedian.

Now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theaters,” Griffin tweeted.Let me tell you something, it’s a very bad practice to walk up on stage and physically assault a Comedian.Now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theaters.Rainn Wilson, known for his role on “The Office” as Dwight Schrute, also implied Smith had overreacted in a tweet.“Even Frank Sinatra never hit Don Rickles,” Wilson posted, comparing the incident to that of the late, known insult-comedian.