Amy Schumer Faces Backlash After Sharing Alec Baldwin Joke She Was Forced To Cut From Oscars
Oscars co-host Amy Schumer has been met with criticism after revealing a joke she was made to cut from this year’s ceremony.
Last month, Amy fronted the Academy Awards alongside Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall, with the trio coming for Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothée Chalamet and various other stars over the course of the evening.
However, during a recent show, the Trainwreck star admitted there were jokes that bosses requested she leave out of the show.
According to Variety, she told an audience in Las Vegas that she was made to cut jibes about Joe Rogan and James Franco, as well as one relating to Alec Baldwin.
“Don’t Look Up is the name of a movie? More like don’t look down the barrel of Alec Baldwin’s shotgun,” the comic told the audience, referring to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins last year.
Halyna died in October 2021 after a prop gun Alec had been holding went off on the set of the film Rust, fatally shooting her.
Referring to the infamous Will Smith incident during the ceremony, Amy then added: “I wasn’t allowed to say any of that, but you can just come up and [slap] someone.”
Last week, Amy spoke out about the moment Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock during the ceremony, claiming it was something she was “still triggered and traumatised” by.
Elaborating further during her comedy set, Amy recalled the incident, while referring to Will as “Ali” (the actor was nominated for his first Oscar for portraying Muhammad Ali in a 2001 biopic).
“I don’t even know what to say about the Oscars,” she told the audience. “Like, I really don’t know what to say. I have no jokes about it. All I can say is that I don’t know if you saw this, but Will Smith slapped Chris Rock. Did you read that in your newsfeed?
“I was kind of feeling myself… and then all of a sudden, Ali was making his way up. And it was just a fucking bummer.”
After Amy’s joke and accompanying comments about Will Smith made their way online, she was met with a backlash:
Wait, sorry… Amy Schumer wanted to joke about someone’s actual death (?!?!?!?!) but was talking about how triggered and traumatised she was by a slap?!
— Nọ́lá Thee Journalist (@NolaMarianna) April 4, 2022
How do you think hearing this makes Halyna Hutchins’ grieving family feel?!
I- https://t.co/tyKfH2Drui
Amy Schumer was traumatised by the slap but wouldn’t have been traumatised by joking about a gun accident that took the life of a cinematographer; Halyna Hutchins.
— Le Gateau Chocolat (@LeGateauChoc) April 4, 2022
She… volunteered this information? Why. Are. People. https://t.co/cxaezQTKq2
“I was triggered by the slap but I wanted to make a joke about an actually tragedy that a family is still going through !!” ???? …
— ???????????????????? (@Jari2Fly) April 4, 2022
Great joke premise for an audience of people who may have directly known the victims injured/killed and are quite likely still furious that little was done to prevent similar things from happening in the future. https://t.co/7qHzB7CVDM
— Epic Goof Josh (@jesawyer) April 5, 2022
Chris Rock is still alive.
— River Daddy ???????? (@JustDoTP) April 5, 2022
Will Smith is still alive.
Amy Schumer, you are still alive.
You were going to make a joke about someone who was killed?
But a slap has traumatized you???? Why would you admit this for the world to know? https://t.co/0lrvwHUUIk
how is it amy schumer is “traumatised” by a fvcking slap but was gonna joke about alec baldwin and an ACTUAL traumatic event? you can’t make this sh*t up
— keira | 323 (@dylrauhls) April 4, 2022
She's ready to make a joke on someone's death but draws a line when someone gets slapped. Her duality?!?!? https://t.co/VtN9eoRCz1
— Aleanniee ???????? (@cookiiemiix) April 5, 2022
So the slap triggered Amy Schumer but the actual death of a colleague was not only not triggering to her but it warranted Amy making jokes about it. Do i have this right? pic.twitter.com/mL7uLRE6Kf
— THEE Adhys (@adhysopell) April 4, 2022
Bro imagine being Amy Schumer and your thought process goes, “Aww what the heck, he gets to slap that guy but I can’t make an unbecoming joke about a woman’s awful untimely death not even a full year after it happened!!”???????? https://t.co/D2eJDFKPRN
— Zach loves Comics (@Zacharingi44) April 5, 2022
yeah because joking about an incident that caused an innocent woman to lose her life is the equivalent to somebody getting slapped. the same slap that apparently traumatized amy schumer so much but she thinks it’s ok to joke about a the death of a woman she didn’t even know…? https://t.co/3icrxI8TTd
— el (@alinastarkohv) April 4, 2022
Literally not only is it a bad joke but why is she acting like will smith sent the concept of the slap to the producers asking if it was okay prior https://t.co/uRUUIcwC4U
— Nate ???? (@NateReaddy) April 5, 2022
While presenting at this year’s Oscars, comedian Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair, after which Will came on stage.
After slapping the comic, he returned to his seat, urging Chris to “keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth”.
In the past, Jada has spoken candidly about her experiences of alopecia, and how her hair loss inspired her to shave her hair last year.
Shortly after the incident, Will Smith was announced as the recipient of the Best Actor prize for his performance in the film King Richard.
He took the opportunity to apologise to the Academy and his fellow nominees during his acceptance speech, later saying sorry to Chris Rock in a statement shared on his Instagram page.
Since then, it was announced that Will had resigned as a member of the Academy, who have said they are investigating the incident.