Bollywood actor Salman Khan attended the press conference for IIFA Awards 2022 where he was asked to comment on actor Will Smith slapping actor-comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars. Khan said that the host should be sensitive.
Actor Salman Khan while attending the press conference at the IIFA Awards 2022 was asked to comment on the entire Oscar slap controversy. For the unversed, actor Will Smith went on the Oscars stage and slapped actor-comedian Chris Rock after he made an insensitive comment about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Pinkett Smith suffers from a medical condition called alopecia, which causes baldness.
Actor Will Smith went on to win the Best Actor Academy Award a few moments later and apologised for the incident. However, Salman Khan had a different take about the hosting, or in this case, about presenting, since Chris Rock was not hosting the Oscars but was called to present an award.
At the IIFA conference, as reported by Times Of India, Khan said, “It's important for a host to be sensitive. Humour should always be above the belt and never below the belt.” It should be mentioned here that Khan had himself once been a victim of this when he made an insensitive comment a few years back. He said that training for wrestling for his film ‘Sultan’ made him feel like a raped woman.
Khan attended the IIFA conference with other Bollywood stars like Varun Dhawan, Ananya Panday and Maniesh Paul. Talking about hosting, Khan further said, "I have hosted shows like Bigg Boss, Dus Ka Dum, and so many live shows on stage. Whenever I have hosted Bigg Boss, and something wrong has happened with one of the contestants that have made me angry or disappointed, I say it out in the show, but I know there's a limit. I don't cross a line. Whatever I have to say, I say it on the given Saturday and then on Sunday I am all normal.”
Bollywood actor, Varun Dhawan also commented on the Will Smith-Chris Rock incident via his Instagram story, saying "Wow, didn't expect that (sic).”
Will Smith won his first Oscar for his performance in ‘King Richard’ and went on to apologise to Chris Rock later on Instagram. He said, “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness (sic)."
The Academy Awards tweeted yesterday that it does not ‘condone violence of any form’. As per reports, they are still reviewing the incident and the decision for this year’s Best Actor.
The 22nd IIFA Awards will be hosted by Salman Khan and Riteish Deshmukh in Abu Dhabi on May 20 and May 21.