Family Feud host Steve Harvey said his respect for Will Smith took a nose-dive after he slapped Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars.
As Deadline reported, Harvey made the comments while speaking at Georgia State University. He described the moment—provoked by a joke that Rock told about Jada Pinkett-Smith’s shaved head—as a “punk move,” saying he “lost a lot of respect for him.”
The comedian said his Christianity means he would’ve personally dealt with the situation in a different, non-violent way. “I’m a Christian, but I’m really undeveloped. I don’t have high-level Christianity. On a scale of one to 10, I’m like a two. That’s the level of Christianity I can work on,” he said. “You slap T.D. Jakes, he’ll turn the other cheek. You slap me? If you sit back in your seat, Jada would have to move out of the way. That’s the type of Christian I am.”
This isn’t the first time Harvey has discussed the slap, although his words came across much more harsh this time around. In March, he suggested the King Richard Oscar-winner “overreacted” to the G.I. Jane 2 joke, and described it as a “Hollywood move.”
“I understand defending the honor of your wife, I’m that dude. … He didn’t do that. That joke was not worthy of the reaction,” the 65-year-old said. "If he was gonna have a reaction, I think that Will should have done the man thing, which is step to him afterwards in that press room. And if he wanted to slap Chris then, he could have slapped Chris in the press room and seen how it went.”
Despite his insistence that his faith means he would’ve handled the situation without violence, he recently told Kanye West to “pull up” after Ye took issue with Harvey’s friend D.L. Hughley.
