Ricky Gervais has won praise from fans, after leaving them in stiches by risking Will Smith’s wrath to make a joke referencing his infamous Oscars slap.
The comedian, 63, has never been shy at making brutal take-downs of A-list stars and took the opportunity to mock both Will’s son and his wife on X on Monday.
Jaden Smith, 26, went viral this weekend after he arrived at Sunday’s Grammy Awards wearing an elaborate black hat shaped like a castle.
Fans quickly took to social media to roast him over the bizarre look, with many joking it looked like ‘a haunted Minecraft building’, ‘a rejected Zoom background’ and ‘a Halloween outfit for a 5 year old’.
Jumping at the chance to join in on the mockery, Ricky shifted his target to Jaden’s famous parents instead, by referencing Chris Rock’s notorious joke about Jada Pinkett that caused Will to slap him at the Oscars.
Taking to X to respond to a photo of Jaden in strange hat, he wrote: ‘Maybe he’s bald like his mum.’
Ricky Gervais has won praise from fans, after leaving them in stiches by risking Will Smith ‘s wrath to make a joke referencing his infamous Oscars slap (pictured)
The comedian, 63, has never been shy at making brutal take-downs of A-list stars and took the opportunity to mock both Will’s son and his wife on X on Monday (Ricky pictured in 2022)
Jaden Smith, 26, was roasted by fans this weekend after he arrived at Sunday’s Grammy Awards wearing an elaborate black hat shaped like a castle (pictured)
Fans were left in hysterics by the quip, as they praised it as ‘absolute gold’ and ‘already the best post of the year’, while also warning Ricky that he was risking similar retaliation to Chris from Will.
They wrote: ‘Ohh he just went there’; ‘Hahahaha….i literally just spat my coffee out!!! You sir, are brilliant’; ‘He’s gonna slap you!’
‘HAHAHAHA, Ricky wins the internet… again!’; ‘Hahahahhahaha you went there’; ‘Watch yourself, been some Will Smith sightings on your side of the pond.’
‘Only February and already best post of the year’; ‘ooof you are pushing will to act out!!’; ‘You may have to remove her name from your mouth’.
‘Wear head gear at your next presentation gig’; ‘absolute gold as usual from the G.O.A.T’; ‘Nooo Ricky, don’t make Will come over here’; ‘Oh no you didn’t!’
Will, 56, hit the headlines when he strode onto the stage and slapped Chris across the face during 94th Academy Awards in March 2022.
The incident occurred after the comedian cracked a joke about Jada looking like ‘G.I. Jane’ because of her bald head, when she had recently revealed that was suffering from alopecia.
Enraged by the jab, Will hit Chris in front of the shocked room of Hollywood elite, before going back to his seat and shouting: ‘Keep my wife’s name out of your f****** mouth.’
Jumping at the chance to join in on the mockery, Ricky shifted his target to Jaden’s famous parents instead, by referencing Chris Rock ‘s notorious joke about Jada Pinkett that caused Will to slap him at the Oscars (Will and Jada pictured at Oscars)
A stunned Chris then laughed uncomfortably, and said: ‘That was the greatest night in the history of television’.
The assault occurred moments before the Fresh Prince star took home the Best Actor gong for his portrayal of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams’ father in the film King Richard.
In his rambling acceptance speech, a sobbing Will admitted that ‘love makes you do crazy things’ – but tellingly failed to apologize to Chris for his assault.
He said: ‘You gotta be able to take abuse, and you gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you.
‘In this business, you gotta be able to have people disrespecting you and you gotta smile and you gotta pretend like that’s OK.’
While he concluded: ‘I want to apologise to the Academy, I want to apologise to all my fellow nominees.
‘Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said. I look like the crazy father just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things. I’m hoping the Academy invites me back. Thank you’.
The next day Will publicly apologised to Chris, saying his behaviour was ‘unacceptable and inexcusable’ and left him ’embarrassed’.
Fans were left in hysterics by the quip, as they praised it as ‘absolute gold’ and ‘already the best post of the year’, while also warning Ricky that he was risking similar retaliation to Chris from Will
Will, 56, hit the headlines when he strode onto the stage and slapped Chris across the face during 94th Academy Awards in March 2022 (pictured)
The incident occurred after the comedian cracked a joke about Jada looking like ‘G.I. Jane’ because of her bald head, when she had recently revealed that was suffering from alopecia
Enraged by the jab, Will hit Chris in front of the shocked room of Hollywood elite, before going back to his seat and shouting: ‘Keep my wife’s name out of your f****** mouth’
Writing on Instagram, Will said: ‘Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable.
‘Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.
‘I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.’
The movie star was late banned by the Academy from attending any future Oscars until the year 2032.
It’s not the first time that Ricky has poked fun at the notorious slap, previously saying that rather than target Jada’s hair, he would have made jokes about her ‘boyfriend instead’.
The comedian has become known for his sharp-tongued barbs while presenting award shows, famously making jokes about Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein. Prince Andrew, MeToo and ISIS during his opening monologue at 2020 Golden Globes.
Following Will’s explosive reaction, fans were keen to know what he would have done in Chris’ situation, having made his own unforgiving digs in the past.
Ricky responded the speculation while testing new material at a show in London a few days after the dramatic incident.
It’s not the first time that Ricky has poked fun at the notorious slap, previously saying that rather than target Jada’s hair, he would have made jokes about her ‘boyfriend instead’ (pictured in 2019)
Jada hit the headlines in June 2020 when singer August Alsina, 32, claimed he had been in a relationship with her, with the actress later confirming they were in an ‘entanglement’
He told the crowd: ‘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.
‘What has it got to do with me? People were going ‘What would have happened if Ricky Gervais had been doing it [hosting Oscars]?’
‘Well, nothing as I would not have made a joke about his wife’s hair. I would have made a joke about her boyfriend.’
Jada hit the headlines in June 2020 when singer August Alsina, 32, claimed he had been in a relationship with her, with the actress later confirming they were in an ‘entanglement’.
Ricky couldn’t resist also making a dig at her hair after all, as later in his set he quipped: ‘This new material is going to be for my new show called Armageddon. I might change that to Alopecia.’
It comes after Will himself made a surprise appearance at the 2025 Grammys on Sunday, marking his first red carpet appearance since the incident.
The actor made a solo appearance at the ceremony without Jada, after the pair revealed they’ve been separated since 2016 and had lived ‘separate lives’ since then, though they’re still ‘together.’
It comes after Will himself made a surprise appearance at the 2025 Grammys on Sunday, marking his first red carpet appearance since the incident (pictured)
Will tied the knot with the 53-year-old actress and singer in 1997 and while insiders insisted that they are still together they have both maintained separate homes for many years.
The pair have been working on their relationship after Jada disclosed in 2023 that they had been separated for seven years, beginning in 2016.
‘We’ve been doing some really heavy-duty work together. We just got deep love for each other, and we are going to figure out what that looks like for us,’ she shared at the time.
Jada previously shared that she will live with Will again one day to ‘take care of him’ because he’s ‘getting old’ in a 2023 interview with The Times.
