Whoopi Goldberg Says Race Is Real Reason Will Smith Wasn’t Removed From Oscars After Smacking Will Smith

The entire world is still reeling from Will Smith smacking Chris Rock onstage during the Oscars on Sunday night. Whoopi Goldberg, who is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ board of governors, is now weighing in to say that she believes Smith was not removed from the Oscars after the smack because of racial dynamics.

Watch the ladies on “The View” give their armchair therapist take on what happened and why: 

Backstory: Internet Erupts After Will Smith Slaps Chris Rock At The Oscars

‘Big Consequences’ Coming For Smith

The Academy is holding a meeting today to decide whether or not to strip Will Smith of the Oscar that he won later in the night for his work in King Richard.

Goldberg eluded to this when she said yesterday that there will be “big consequences” for Smith over what he did.

“Let me say this, there are consequences,” she said. “There are big consequences, because nobody is OK with what happened… What’s happening [is] people are now starting to calm down and say, wait a minute, what could have triggered this?”

However, this is a bit of a contrast to how Goldberg talked about Smith’s assault of Rock on Monday, when she said that the former “Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air” star simply “overreacted” to a joke the comedian made at the expense of his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

Chris Rock had compared the bald woman to the character “G.I. Jane,” which is seemingly what spurred Smith to slap him. 

Related: O.J. Simpson Defends Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock At Oscars – ‘I Understood The Feeling’

Goldberg Sounds Off 

“The reason they didn’t go and take him out is because that would have been another 15, 20 minute explanation of why we’re taking the Black man out five seconds before they’re about to decide whether he’s won an Oscar or not,” Goldberg said on Tuesday’s episode of her ABC talk show “The View.”

“So that’s, and I’m going to say I believe [Oscars producer] Will Packer made the right decision. He said, let’s get through the rest of this so we can deal with it wholeheartedly. So that’s what went on,” she added, according to Newsweek. “This is not the first time craziness has happened onstage, but this is the first time we’ve seen anybody assault anybody onstage.”

Related: If You Thought Whoopi Goldberg’s Holocaust Comments Were Bad, Here’s What Else She’s Gotten A Pass For Saying

‘I Get It’

“I get it. Not everybody acts the way we like them to under pressure,” Goldberg said the day after it happened, according to People Magazine. “Some people just snap. He snapped.”

“I think it’s remarkable and wonderful that Chris Rock did not take it to that other place it could have gone,” added Goldberg. “… All I know is sometimes you get to a point and you behave badly. I myself have acted badly on occasion.”

It seems that after another day of reflection, Goldberg has come around to seeing this assault as something that should not be downplayed. We hope to learn in the hours to come how the Academy will be handling this situation. 

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