American TV personality Whoopi Goldberg has protested against her fellow “The View” co-host Tara Setmayer’s criticism of the “Hollywood elites” over the slapping incident at the Academy Awards.
Noting how the audience gave Will Smith a “standing ovation” as he, after slapping Chris Rock on the stage, proceeded to win the Best Actor, which, Setmayer said, she thinks “goes back to why some people feel like Hollywood elites are a bunch of hypocrites.”
“Because they go out there and they give these statements of moral superiority about things, and political statements, and then they're standing there giving a standing ovation after [Smith] just assaulted Chris Rock,” she elaborated.
In response, Goldberg, who serves as Academy governor and can be considered a “Hollywood elite” herself, as MailOnline points out, said she wants to “stop with this 'elite' stuff because, you know, a lot of us work for a living.”
“We work, we collect a check, we got families,” she added. ”We try to do the same thing, the good stuff that everybody else tries to do.”
Goldberg also remarked that that it ruffles her feathers “when people start to talk about people who work in Hollywood, not just actors, but all the other folks.”
“So, please, when you're talking about actors, be specific,” she said. “If you're pissed off about somebody or how they act, don't put it on all of us because that's like saying all Black people like chicken.”
The incident between Rock and Smith occurred during the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, after the comedian cracked a joke about the shaved head of Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia.
While Smith initially laughed at that remark, he then walked up on stage and slapped Rock, video showed.
"Oh wow, Will Smith just smacked the sh*t out of me", Rock exclaimed, while Smith returned to his seat and twice yelled at him: "Keep my wife's name out of your f**king mouth!"
In the aftermath, reports have surfaced detailing that Rock had been repeatedly asked whether he wanted to press charges against the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" actor and have him taken into custody. Rock ultimately refused to further escalate the incident and has since stated that he is "still processing" the weekend encounter.