Yahoo News Would Wanda Sykes host the Oscars again? 'Oh hell no,' she says
Hollywood's biggest night was a bit too big for 2022 Oscars co-host Wanda Sykes' taste.
"Oh hell no," the comedian said on Tuesday's Live with Kelly and Ryan when asked if she would, in hindsight, emcee March's ceremony over again alongside Regina Hall and Amy Schumer. "I mean, I shouldn't say it like that. It was an amazing honor and I think it's something that you want to do, you do it once, and I don't know if I would want to do it again."
Though she said it was an overall "amazing night" with "good vibes" going on in the room, the fallout from the moment Will Smith slapped presenter Chris Rock live on stage after the latter made a joke about the King Richard star's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, overshadowed most of the evening's events.
"It was just like, what is happening? Couldn't believe it. Shock," Sykes said told Ryan Seacrest when he inquired about her reaction to the shocking moment as it unfolded. "So, everybody's just going to sit here? It was like, the show just kept going on and I'd look [from] behind the curtain like, he's still sitting here? What is happening? What is going on? It was crazy, it was just bizarre."
Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall hosting the 2022 Oscars
Sykes also spoke about her immediate reaction during the ceremony in an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
"I just felt so awful for my friend, you know, Chris. And it was sickening. It was absolutely — I physically felt ill. And, I'm still a little traumatized by it," she told DeGeneres, noting that, while Smith posted a public apology on Instagram, "no one has apologized to us," with reference to the three women hosting the show. "This is our house. We're inviting you in. We're hosts. We're gonna take care of y'all tonight. Make sure you have a good time.... We worked really hard to put that show together... I'm like, 'What the hell is this?' It's wrong. It's just wrong."
Smith was eventually banned from attending Academy-affiliated events — including the Oscars — for the next decade. Pinkett Smith later addressed the incident on an episode of her Red Table Talk series, opening the show with a call for both men to "reconcile" amid the controversy.
"The state of the world today? We need them both, and we all actually need one another more than ever," she said. "Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years, and that's keep figuring out this thing called life together. Thank you for listening."
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