Tiffany Haddishis sharing her thoughts onWill SmithsmackingChris Rockat the94th Academy Awards, explaining why she found the controversial moment “beautiful.”
“When I saw a Black man stand up for his wife. That meant so much to me,” Haddish, 42, told PEOPLE at the Governors Ball following the ceremony. During the show, Smith, 53, walked on stage and hit Rock, 57, after Rock made a joke about his wifeJada Pinkett Smith’shair.
Haddish, whostarred in 2017’sGirls Tripwith Jada, continued, “As a woman, who has been unprotected, for someone to say, ‘Keep my wife’s name out your mouth, leave my wife alone,’ that’s what your husband is supposed to do, right? Protect you.”
For more on the Will Smith-Chris Rock incident at the Oscars, listen below to our daily podcast on PEOPLE Every Day.
“And that meant the world to me. And maybe the world might not like how it went down, but for me, it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen because it made me believe that there are still men out there that love and care about their women, their wives.”
Mike Coppola/Getty
Haddish then asked, “Would you do that for your wife? Would you say, ‘Keep my wife’s name out your mother f—ing…’ Like, yes! Yes!”
“If she wouldn’t have been hurt, [Will] probably wouldn’t have said nothing,” said Haddish. “But you could see he was clearly… And they exploited it. They exploited her, so ‘I have to do something’… He protected his wife.”
Neilson Barnard/Getty
She later said that “Will is fine.”
The incident occurred after Rock, who was introducing the award for Best Documentary, joked to Will’s wife in the audience, “Jada, I love ya.G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see ya.”
Jada has beenopen about her hair lossamid her battle with autoimmune disorder alopecia.
RELATED VIDEO:Will SmithOmits Chris Rock from Apology as He Wins Oscar: ‘Love Makes You Do Crazy Things’
Will laughed from his seat during Rock’s joke, while Jada pulled an unimpressed expression. Will,who later won Best Actorat the ceremony, then took the stage and smacked Rock across the face.
“Oh wow,” said a seemingly taken-aback Rock as Smith made his way back to his seat. “Will Smithjust smacked the s— out of me.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“Keep my wife’s name out your f—ing mouth!” Will yelled up to the stage at Rock after taking his seat again.
“Wow, dude, it was aG.I. Janejoke,” said Rock — to which Will replied once again, “Keep my wife’s name out your f—ing mouth!”
“I’m going to, okay?” Rock replied, before going on to say, “That was the … greatest night in the history of television” and presenting the award.
source: people.com
