Jimmy Kimmel has praised Chris Rock for "staying cool" after being slapped by Will Smith.
Jimmy Kimmel is proud of Chris Rock
The 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' star is hosting the Academy Awards on March 12 and he has reflected on last year's ceremony - which was fronted by Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall and Amy Schumer - when the 'King Richard' actor slapped the comedian after he made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith's hair.
Speaking to PEOPLE magazine, he said: "I mean, to be slapped in the face and to stay that cool is something that Chris should be proud of.
"Chris's grandchildren, I hope, will still be proud of that when he's dead and gone."
The 55-year-old star hopes that "one day" people will be able to "learn from" the incident and move on.
He added: "It's still shocking that that happened. To see something like that happen outside of like 'The Maury Povich Show' is shocking.
"And then for it to happen on the Oscars magnifies it by about a million times… I think it's something that everybody regrets and that we will move past.
"One day it will be looked at in the same way as that guy running onstage naked is looked at: a weird moment that we all talked about and we hopefully learn from."
Jimmy fronted the Oscars in 2017 and 2018, and had an awkward moment of his own the first year when the wrong best picture winner was announced on live TV due to a mishap with the envelopes backstage.
He recalled: "In some ways it feels like an episode of a TV show I watched and then put out of my head.
"It was a very intense and confusing end to what was otherwise a pretty great night."
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