Clay Travis & Buck Sexton pan Will Smith striking Chris Rock: He 'wouldn't do that to The Rock'

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‘The View’ slams ‘violent’ Will Smith for ‘slap heard 'round the world’

The co-hosts of ABC's "The View," went after actor Will Smith over his behavior at Sunday night's Oscars, in which he physically assaulted host Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith's hair.

After actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock in the face during Sunday's Oscars ceremony, radio hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton suggested that if Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson told the joke, Smith's actions would've gone over much differently.

While on stage, Rock made several jokes at the expense of audience members while preparing to present a ‘best documentary’ category. One of the jokes was about Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith's wife. Rock joked that he is waiting for Pinkett Smith -- who suffers from Alopecia – to star in a "G.I. Jane" sequel; referencing Demi Moore's baldheaded character in the 1997 movie.

After initially laughing at the remark, Will Smith suddenly walked onstage and slapped an unsuspecting Rock, before loudly swearing at him twice for joking about his wife, after returning to his seat.

"Keep my wife's name out [of] your f---ing mouth," Smith hollered, as the camera showed an enraged Smith. 

Will Smith, right, hits presenter Chris Rock on stage while presenting the award for best documentary feature at the Oscars. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

On his radio show, Sexton said Smith was within his rights to verbally admonish Rock, but that striking the comic was out of bounds and could've ended even worse if he had closed-fist punched him causing bodily injury.

"Smith was about to get the best actor award at the Oscars. I don’t think that he planned out some publicity stunt," he said. "I think the guy had a bit of a meltdown. I think that’s pretty apparent – and I think that Chris Rock … responded like he was in shock like that. That was that did not look like acting."

He continued, "Will Smith is a big guy. What if he'd gone up there and taken a full-on swing … with a closed fist, he could've broken [Rock's] nose right there on stage." 

Travis agreed adding that if it had been former WWE superstar "The Rock" and not Chris Rock who made a joke about his wife, Smith would've acted differently.

Professional wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson

"If The Rock had come out and made that joke, [Smith] ain’t walking up on the stage and open-hand-slapping The Rock," Travis said.

Appearing to reference his earlier career in programs such as the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air", Travis added that Smith too has somewhat of a comedic background and should have understood what Chris Rock was doing when he was taking verbal shots at audience members. 

"Smith is a comedian, right, so he should understand more than some of these more serious actors – he understands or should understand comedy in a way others may not," he said.

Travis added that Smith "looked psychologically unstable" and that as a married man himself, he wouldn't "normalize" such actions in the way Smith had toward Rock.

Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith, Will Smith, Jaden Smith and Trey Smith attend the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party

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He pointed out that British comedian Ricky Gervais famously caused a stir by poking fun at multiple celebrities in an uproarious speech at the Golden Globes.

In 2020, Gervais started off by comparing Joe Pesci to "Baby Yoda", and then asked that the oft-tough-guy actor not "have me whacked" -- before making similar jokes about other actors and concluding his speech by admonishing the room for injecting politics into their work.

"I think [Gervais] should be the host for every single award show because he’s actually willing to puncture the narcissism that is so readily apparent in those rooms," Travis said.

He added that Smith assaulting Rock is "the logical extension of the world we've created where we treat speech like violence, and so we allow people to respond violently to people who say something mean to you – and it wasn't even [directed] to him."

Rock declined to press charges against Smith with the Los Angeles Police Department.