Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes, who co-hosted the Academy Awards with Regina Hall, said they were "traumatized" after Will Smith's "sickening" slap of Chris Rock during Sunday's ceremony.
In an Instagram post, which has since been deleted, Schumer said she was “triggered and traumatized” following the incident. She added that she's “waiting for this sickening feeling to go away from what we all witnessed.”
Sykes, in an interview on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," a clip of which was shared by DeGeneres on Twitter, said the slap made her physically ill and she believes the hosts deserve an apology. "No one has apologized to us, and we worked really hard to put that show together," she said.
Rock, who was presenting the award for best documentary feature, joked that he was looking forward to seeing Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, in “G.I. Jane 2.”
In 2018, Pinkett Smith revealed she was diagnosed with alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss. The film “G.I. Jane” stars Demi Moore as a woman who shaves her head during military service.
Smith marched to the stage at the Dolby Theatre and hit Rock. He then returned to his seat in the Dolby Theatre and shouted: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f------ mouth!”
The audience went silent, seemingly paralyzed by confusion and shock. The audio feed on TV screens across the U.S. cut out as Smith returned to his seat and shouted an expletive at Rock.
“I love my friend @chrisrock and believe he handled it like a pro,” Schumer wrote in her Instagram post.
"Stayed up there and gave an Oscar to his friend @questlove and the whole thing was so disturbing," Schumer added. "So much pain in @willsmith anyway I’m still in shock and stunned and sad. Im proud of myself and my cohosts. But yeah."
Sykes said in a statement to People that “violence is never the answer.” In the appearance on "The Ellen Show," which will air April 7, she elaborated further.
"I was just like, 'What, is this really happening?' and then someone showed me on the video. It was like, yeah, he smacked Chris. I just felt so awful for my friend, Chris. It was sickening. I physically felt ill. I’m still a little traumatized by it," she said.
"For them to let him stay in that room and enjoy the rest of the show and accept his award, I was like, 'How gross is this? This is the wrong message.' ... You assault somebody, you get escorted out the building and that's it. But for them to let him continue, I thought it was gross," she said.
NBC News has reached out to representatives for Sykes and Hall for further comment.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences condemned Smith’s actions on Monday, saying it is reviewing the matter.
Smith, who went on to win his first Oscar for best actor later in the night, formally apologized to Rock on Monday in a post on Instagram. “Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive,” he wrote. “My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable.”
Rock kept his composure after he was slapped, joking that it was the “greatest night in the history of television.” He declined to press charges, the Los Angeles Police Department said.
The comedian has not commented publicly on the incident. He is expected to perform in Boston to a sold-out crowd on Wednesday.
