"I blame toxic femininity": Bill Maher tears into Will Smith and wife, Jada over Chris Rock Oscars slap

Bill Maher was the latest celebrity to weigh in on the Will Smith and Chris Rock Oscars slapping incident. The TV host opened Friday’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher with a sarcastic jibe at Smith, saying,

“Thank you all for coming and putting on a brave face. I know we are all processing what happened at the Oscars and I just wanna say to Will Smith, I got your back bro, stay strong… April Fools. You’re a d**k.”

He mocked Smith once again before proceeding to discuss the Oscars fiasco in detail. He added,

“I’m not here to humiliate Will Smith. He gets enough of that at home.”

On March 27, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage during the 2022 Oscars ceremony after the latter made a G.I. Jane joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head. The encounter took the world by storm and was dubbed one of the most shocking moments in the history of the Oscars.

Prior to Bill Maher, public figures and comedians like Tom Segura, Andrew Schulz, Candace Owens, Jim Carrey, Kathy Griffin, Rosie O’Donnell, and Oscars co-host Wanda Sykes also spoke out against Smith’s actions.

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A look into Bill Maher’s comments on Will Smith’s Oscars controversy

Bill Maher blamed "toxic femininity" for the Will Smith and Chris Rock Oscars fiasco (Image via Getty Images)

On the latest episode of his HBO talk show, Bill Maher humorously condemned the infamous Oscars moment when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock and said,

“Every single person in America this entire week was talking about nothing but the sucker punch heard around the world. So the whole ‘Keep my wife’s name out of your mouth’ didn’t really work out.”

The comedian also poked fun at the Oscars ceremony and said that the film that received maximum attention after this year's event was the 1997 war drama G.I. Jane. He said,

“There was more action in three seconds than in three hours of The Power of the Dog. Who would have thought the movie coming out of the Oscars with all the buzz was G.I. Jane.”

Bill Maher also defended Chris Rock’s G.I. Jane joke against Jada Pinkett Smith during his monolog and said that latter’s alopecia is not the worst health condition. Bill said,

“I must say, comparing a woman to Demi Moore looking her hottest is not exactly the worst insult I’ve ever heard in the world. I mean alopecia; it’s not leukemia, okay? Alopecia is when your hair falls out and Appalachia is when you teeth falls out. There are worse things.”

The commentator also pointed out that Will Smith was laughing at Rock’s joke until he noticed his wife’s disappointed expression and decided to act upon the situation. Maher also dubbed the moment as an example of “toxic femininity.”

He said,

“When Chris Rock told the joke you cut to Will Smith and he is laughing at the joke. And then he sees that his wife is giving him the stink eye. I blame toxic femininity.”

The TV host further highlighted the Academy’s claim about Smith refusing to leave the show following the slapping incident and said,

“The Academy says that they asked Will after that to leave and he refused and then got into a shoving match with Liza Minnelli… I don’t know who’s lying but the Academy is getting very stern now. The Academy says from now on they may ban Will Smith from ever coming back to the Oscars and my question is, what’s the punishment?”

Bill Maher went on to discuss the topic while speaking to his panelists, CNN Analyst Laura Coates and former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang. He also said that the incident showed certain negative aspects of the society and noted that “it was a bad night for liberal hypocrisy.”

Bill expressed,

“It exposed, I thought, a lot of aspects of this society we have which are not terribly positive — toxic masculinity, victim culture. Liberal hypocrisy, I think, was the big loser.”

When Coates asked why was Smith “even there” to receive his Oscar Award, Yang replied “because he is Will Smith.” The latter added,

“I do feel like it's part of the job of a world-famous celebrity attending an award show to absorb mild insults directed at you and yours. I ran for office and people said things around me I didn't like, and I didn't get up and smack anyone.”

Bill Maher further called out the crowd at the Oscars who gave Smith a standing ovation during his Best Actor win. He expressed,

“These are the very people who are always talking about micro-aggressions in the workplace and how you should be, you know, not have to face an uncomfortable moment or people shouldn't touch you or unwanted leave. Suddenly, they were okay with this. It just seemed to show, to me, broken morals. Like, you really have no principles.”

The host also took another scathing dig at Pinkett Smith’s alopecia and said that she should “thank god” as the condition is not “life threatening” and instead a part of “aging.” He said,

“If you are so lucky in life as to have that be your medical problem, just say ‘thank God.’ It’s not life threatening. It’s part of — for most people, 80 percent of men, 50 percent of women — it’s part of aging.”

He also said that Jada Pinkett Smith would have worn a wig at the Oscars if she was bothered by her own appearance. He claimed,

“Aging is, trust me I know, it’s the degradation of the flesh. It happens to all of us. And you know, just put on a f***ing wig like everybody else at the Oscars if it bothers you so much.”

Bill Maher’s remarks about Will Smith come after the Academy said it has started “disciplinary proceedings” against the actor.

Meanwhile, Smith announced that he has resigned from the the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in light of the slapping incident.