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Ricky Gervais has entered the Will Smith slap discourse and revealed that, unlike Chris Rock, he would not make a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's hair, or indeed her alopecia.
The controversial comedian, who is well-known for not holding back in his roasts about celebrities at award shows, has said he would have poked fun at Pinkett Smith's "boyfriend" rather than her appearance.
"I'll get it out of the way. I have not got any Will Smith material. I trended when that happened and I was not even there," Gervais said at a show in London this week, according to The Mirror.
"What has it got to do with me? People were going: 'What would have happened if Ricky Gervais had been doing it (hosting Oscars)?'"
He said: "Well, nothing as I would not have made a joke about his wife's hair. I would have made a joke about her boyfriend."
Rock made a joke about Pinkett Smith's shaved head on stage at the Oscars saying: "Jada, can't wait for G.I. Jane 2."
The actress has been open about her experiences with alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss. So viewers were shocked when Smith stormed the stage and slapped Rock in the face over the joke.
Pinkett Smith famously had an extra-marital "entanglement" with the musician August Alsina which she opened up about on her show in 2020 and she and her husband have spoken publicly about their open marriage.
The couple has been married for 24 years, but their relationship made headlines for their unconventional approach to marriage in recent years.
During an interview with GQ in November 2021, Smith said: "For the large part of our relationship, monogamy was what we chose, not thinking of monogamy as the only relational perfection."
This subject has proven to be ample fodder for comedians, with Rebel Wilson poking fun at the situation at the BAFTAs earlier this month.
The Australian comedian joked that despite Smith's recognition for his role in King Richard this awards season, she believed that "his best performance in the past year has been being okay with all of his wife's boyfriends."
Gervais continued in his recent set: "This new material is going to be for my new show called Armageddon. I might change that to Alopecia."
The After Life star has previously said that his risky jokes are an "occupational hazard."
"It's an occupational hazard of being outspoken. I think offense is the collateral damage of free speech, and it's no reason not to have free speech," he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2020. "That's what I'd say—it's the lesser of two evils. Having free speech and some people getting upset by it is the lesser of two evils because not having free speech is horrendous."
