Whoopi Goldberg doesn’t expect Will Smith to be stripped of his Oscar.
The 66-year-old star — who is an Academy Governor serving on the group’s actors branch — has addressed the potential fallout after Smith struck Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia.
Appearing on “The View” this week, she said: “We’re not going to take that Oscar from him.
“There will be consequences I’m sure, but I don’t think that’s what they’re going to do, particularly because Chris said ‘Listen, I’m not pressing any charges.'”
Whoopi insisted while Smith — who was later honored with the best actor prize during Sunday night’s ceremony — “overreacted,” people can reach “a point when you behave badly.”
She added: “I think it was a lot of stuff probably built up. I think he overreacted …
“I think he had one of those moments where it was like [God damn] it, just stop. I get it, not everybody acts the way we would like them to act under pressure.
“And he snapped … Sometimes you get to a point when you behave badly. I myself have behaved badly on occasion.”
Although Goldberg doesn’t expect to see the actor stripped of his best actor prize, the Academy has confirmed it has “started a formal review” of the incident.
In a statement, they said: “The Academy condemns the actions of Mr. Smith at last night’s show. We have officially started a formal review around the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct and California law.”
In a previous statement, the Los Angeles Police Department revealed Rock has not yet filed a report against Smith, who has since apologized to the comedian on social media.
He wrote: “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”
