'Hollywood is just spineless': Jim Carrey condemns Oscar audience for giving Will Smith standing ovation

Jim Carrey has slammed Hollywood for giving Will Smith a standing ovation for his Best Actor award for King Richard at the 94th Academy Awards, several minutes after he slapped comedian Chris Rock at the ceremony. The Oscars were overshadowed by the incident, which saw Smith walking over to Rock and slapping him onstage after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith’s bald head. Pinkett-Smith who suffers from alopecia , shaved her head last year due to excessive hair fall. While Smith later apologised for his actions at the Oscars, many people, including Carrey, have lambasted the Hitch actor for hitting Chris Rock. Carrey told CBS’ Gayle King that he was “sickened” when he saw Oscar attendees give a standing ovation to Smith after he won the Best Actor award for the first time, even though the he had slapped Rock minutes before.  The actor-comedian stated that the moment felt like “Hollywood is just spineless en masse" and  “that we aren’t the cool club anymore.” The Mask actor also stated that Smith should have been escorted out of the ceremony after he slapped Rock. Carrey even said that if he had been in place of Rock, he would have sued the Pursuit of Happyness actor for “$200 million”. Rock had declined to file a police report against Smith for slapping him, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Carrey claimed in his interview with Gayle King that Rock declined to file a report as he “didn’t want the hassle.” The actor-comedian added that while he has nothing against Smith but slapping Chris Rock onstage “cast a shadow over everyone’s shining moment last night…It was a selfish moment.” Carrey is not the only actor to have criticised Smith over his actions at the recent Oscars ceremony. Judd Apatow, Maria Shriver and Mandy Moore had also slammed the Men In Black actor for his actions.   The Academy had also issued a statement on the incident and asserted that it does not condone any form of violence.