KISS frontman Paul Stanley has little sympathy for Will Smith after his outburst at Sunday night’s Academy Awards presentation.
But what troubled Stanley most about the debacle was that less than an hour after slapping Chris Rock and cursing at him for a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, Will was given a standing ovation accepting his award for Best Actor.
Will later issued a formal apology, but that didn’t satisfy Stanley. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer echoed Wednesday what many live performers found so objectionable about the situation (and the copycats in might encourage).
“‘Unacceptable Behavior’?” Stanley began, paraphrasing Will’s apology. “What personal issues would embolden someone enough to walk onstage and ASSAULT another person? THEN how could an audience of people who believe themselves morally and socially conscious watch & spend the rest of the night cheering him? Sad and scary.”
Rock has yet to speak out on the issue in detail, but he did address it Wednesday when his stand-up tour with Kevin Hart played Boston.
“So how was your weekend?” Rock reportedly asked the audience after taking the stage.
He then explained that he didn’t yet have much to say on the matter; he had a whole show planned before the incident.
“I don’t have a bunch of s–t about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend,” he said. “I’m still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point I’ll talk about that s–t. And it will be serious and funny.”
As for Will, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences launched a “formal review” of the incident this week that could result in penalties for him, including revocation of his award.