Amy Schumer opened up on “The Howard Stern Show,” explaining how internet haters got to her regarding her initial reaction to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars.
“People made fun of me for saying that was traumatizing,” the comedian said in reference to her deleted Instagram post. “But I don’t think it was traumatizing for me. I think it was traumatizing for all of us,” she explained. Schumer then revealed that Chris Rock and Questlove — who went on stage following the slap to accept his award for Best Documentary Feature — are her good friends and seeing Rock treated in that manner was shocking. “And so, to see that happen, to see your friend get hit … and then and also Will Smith — who I’ve loved and we’ve all loved forever. I haven’t been around much violence. I didn’t grow up with it in the home or anything … it was a bummer,” Schumer told Stern.
But while Schumer has been trolled for calling the situation traumatizing, fellow Oscars host Wanda Sykes agreed the situation was just that. “It was sickening. It was absolutely — I physically felt ill, and I’m still a little traumatized by it,” Sykes said while appearing on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” Since the incident, Smith has since apologized to Rock, and the Academy subsequently banned Smith from its events for the next 10 years.