Jim Carrey called Hollywood’s royalty a bunch of spineless cowards for applauding Will Smith moments after he slugged presenter Chris Rock during Sunday’s Academy Awards show.
In an interview with Gayle King of CBS that aired Tuesday, the “Dumb and Dumber” and “In Living Color” star said Mr. Smith instead should have been expelled from the auditorium.
“I was sickened,” Mr. Carrey said. “I was sickened by the standing ovation. Hollywood is just spineless en masse and it really felt like this is a really clear indication that we aren’t the cool club any more.”
Smith received the Oscar as best lead actor for “King Richard” about 30 minutes after striding onstage to smack Mr. Rock over a joke aimed at his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and then yell obscenities at him from the seat to which he’d calmly returned.
Ms. King pointed out that Mr. Rock declined to press charges, prompting Mr. Carrey to say he would have sued Mr. Smith for the assault.
“I’d have announced this morning that I was suing Will for $200 million because that video is going to be there forever. It’s going to be ubiquitous,” he said.
“That insult is gonna last a very long time. If you want to yell from the audience and show disapproval or say something on Twitter [that’s fine]. You do not have the right to walk up onstage and smack somebody in the face because they said words,” Mr. Carrey said.
Mr. Carrey also opined that the assault was a moment of selfishness that ruined the ceremony for everyone else, presumably not excluding Mr. Smith’s own career-capping win for “King Richard.”
“That was not a good moment. It cast a pall over everybody’s shining moment,” the “Liar Liar” star said. “It was such a selfish moment that cast a pall over the whole thing.”
Mr. Carrey has won two best-actor Golden Globes (for “The Truman Show” and “Man on the Moon”) and was nominated four other times, but has never received an Academy Award nomination.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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