Whoopi Goldberg Accepts Will Smith’s Apology, Says Chris Rock ‘Was The Victim Here’

It seems Whoopi Goldberg and the rest of the co-hosts on “The View” are still talking about the Oscars slap heard around the world.

On Sunday night, Will Smithslapped Chris Rock after he mocked Jada Pinkett Smith and the autoimmune disease that causes her to lose her hair by calling her “G.I. Jane.” Smith yelled “Keep my wife’s name out of your f---ing mouth” and walked on stage and slapped Rock.

Although Smith issued a lengthy and thoughtful apology to Rock on Instagram on Monday night, Whoopi warned that even though Smith apologized, there are still going to be consequences of his actions.

On the second day of “The View” and their Oscar slap discussion, Whoopi Goldberg – who is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science Boards of Governors - said that she accepts Will Smith’s apology, but added, “There are consequences. There are big consequences because nobody is OK with what happened. Nobody, nobody, nobody.”

Sunny Hostin first brought up the topic, saying, “There should be some sort of consequence. It should be taking his Oscar. It shouldn’t be canceling him…”

“Let me say this. There are consequences,” Whoopi replied. “There are big consequences because nobody is OK with what happened. Nobody, nobody, nobody. What’s happening is people are now starting to calm down and say Wait a minute, what could have triggered this? Could have been the four years ago, could have been anything.”

Rock had previously made jokes about Jada and Will Smith several years ago.

“The thing I also need to tell people is that the reason no one got up to go comfort Chris is because they weren’t going to let anyone else on stage,” she added. “There were people there for Chris.” She explained that people had gone over to Smith because people wanted to make sure that he was okay.

“People thought, ‘Oh my god, is he having a break? Do we need to get him out? What do we need to do?’” she revealed.

Whoopi said that the “King Richard” Academy Award winner was not removed from the event “because that would have been another fifteen, twenty-minute explanation about why we’re taking the Black man out five seconds before they’re about to decide whether he’s won an Oscar or not.”

“I believe [producer] Will Packer made the right decision, he said let’s get to the rest of this so we can deal with it wholeheartedly,” she continued. “This is not the first time craziness has happened on stage, but this is the first time we’ve seen anybody assault anybody on stage.”

Although Hostin admitted that “we should be” talking about Smith, she noted that “we need to also talk about Chris Rock because what’s been playing over and over again is his assault.”

“His family is seeing that, his children are seeing that. It’s terrible,” she added. “We have to keep him in mind because he was the victim here.”

“He was the victim here,” Whoopi agreed, adding “but let’s also know that everything that needed to happen that evening, happened. Chris took care of business. And he is the adult who said, ‘You know what, I get it and I’m going to let this do what this needs to do.'”

Later on in the episode, U.S. Senator Corey Booker was asked for his opinion.

“First of all, a lot of us who are in public life know that there are going to be cruel jokes and I’ve never been one to endorse that kind of humor,” he said. “I think the best of our comedians, which I’ve seen Chris Rock do, are ones that highlight injustices, call our attention and engage us in a way with the absurdities of the injustices of this world, but nothing at all justifies violence and what we saw was violence that night and it was very, very disappointing.”

“But again, let’s all extend grace,” he continued. “We have all made mistakes, and the totality of who Will Smith is and who Chris Rock is was not defined by what I thought was a very unfortunate and low moment for the Oscars and for all of us.”

Fans can watch the full segment from today's “The View” Oscar slap discussion in the video below.