‘Hope they will make up’: Minnie Driver responds to Will Smith hitting Chris Rock at the Oscars

Smith hit Rock while the comedian was on stage to present the Oscar for Best Documentary

Minnie Driver has said she hopes Will Smith and Chris Rock “will make up” after the King Richard actor hit Rock at the Oscars.

The altercation between Rock and Smith occurred while the comedian was presenting the Best Documentary award at the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday (27 March).

Smith, who won the Best Actor Oscar shortly after the incident, yelled at Rock to “keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth” when the comedian made a joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s appearance.

Reacting to the incident, the Circle of Friends actor said the audience at the Oscars was witness to a “deeply personal” moment and that it was “hard to watch somebody’s pain like that.”

“I really hope they will make up later,” Driver, 52, told Variety.

Comedians Judd Apatow and Kathy Griffin were among those who took to social media tonight to condemn Smith’s actions.

On Twitter, Knocked Up director Apatow was highly critical of Smith in a since-deleted tweet, commenting: “He could have killed him. That’s pure out of control rage and violence. They’ve heard a million jokes about them in the last three decades. They are not freshman in the world of Hollywood and comedy. He lost his mind.”

“Let me tell you something, it’s a very bad practice to walk up on stage and physically assault a comedian,” Griffin wrote on Twitter, adding: “Now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theatres.”

Meanwhile, late night show host Jimmy Kimmel said he hoped the “unpleasantness” over the incident would not overshadow Oscars’s “very funny” co-hosts Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, Rock will not be pressing charges against Smith.

See the full list of winners from the 2022 Oscars here. Follow live updates and reactions from the ceremony here