Philly celebs, from DJ Jazzy Jeff to Stephen A. Smith, react to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars

Just prior to the Oscars, Will Smith’s longtime friend and former bodyguard from Philly, Charlie Mack Alston, posted a video on Instagram of the two men joking around together before the big show.

“Casket-sharp ready right there, head to toe,” Alston said as he panned the camera on Smith in his suit.

A few hours later, after Smith walked on stage during the Oscars and slapped comedian Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from hair loss due to alopecia, Alston posted to Instagram again.

“Welp!!! Everybody out the POOL!!!!!” he wrote.

Later, Alston posted a photo of him with Smith, as Smith held the leading actor statue he won for his portrayal of Richard Williams in King Richard. He simply captioned the photo: “West PHILLY ‼️‼️🍾🎊🎉👑”

Reactions from celebrities and notables with Philly connections ran the gamut, from this is very Philly to this is very unacceptable. Some even noted how Smith’s actions took the moment away from another Philly celeb who also had a big night at the Oscars, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, who received the award for Best Documentary Feature for his film, Summer of Soul.

Questlove hasn’t publicly spoken or posted his thoughts about the incident yet, nor has Wanda Sykes, who cohosted the Oscars and lives in Delaware County, but here are reactions from other celebs and notables with Philly connections:

DJ Jazzy Jeff’s first reaction on Twitter was: “What was that????” He later went on to congratulate Questlove for his award, writing “Philly is in the building!!!” before congratulating Smith on his Oscar.

“You are NO longer The Prince!!! You are the KING!! Congrats my brother!! You are the GREATEST!!!” DJ Jazzy Jeff wrote.

Quinta Brunson, the creator, writer, and star of the hit TV show Abbott Elementary, named the school in her Philly-set show — Willard Abbott Elementary — in part, after Smith, whose first name is Willard (Abbott is the last name of Brunson’s favorite Philly teacher, Joyce Abbott).

“Oh no,” Brunson first wrote on Twitter Sunday night, before following it up with “Philly in the building?” and “What a very west Philly Oscars” She also tweeted congrats to both Questlove and Smith.

Philly native and celebrity interior designer Sheila Bridges, who has alopecia and was interviewed by Rock for his 2009 documentary Good Hair, reposted a portion of her interview with Rock on Instagram Monday morning, along with her reaction to Sunday’s events.

She said what occurred between Smith and Rock should have “really taken place at a family reunion picnic at The Belmont Plateau in [Fairmount] Park” and that while she does not condone violence or what Smith did, she’s not surprised by his reaction to Rock publicly disrespecting his wife.

“Shame on you @chrisrock,” Bridges wrote. “Didn’t we sit down and talk at length about how painfully humiliating and difficult it is to navigate life as a bald woman in a society that is hair obsessed? As if life isn’t challenging enough out here as an unprotected black woman?”

West Philadelphia actor and University of the Arts grad Jabari Banks, who plays Smith’s role on Bel-Air, the dramatic reboot of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, didn’t directly tweet about the Smith-Rock interaction, but he did retweet the show’s creator, Morgan Cooper, who wrote simply: “congrats big bro” followed by three goat and three crown emojis.

Actress Holly Robinson Peete, who grew up in Philadelphia and is married to former Eagles quarterback Rodney Peete, first wrote on Twitter last night: “I hate that Questlove had his HUGE moment destroyed by this foolishness. It’s embarrassing.”

Monday morning, she followed up with: “I was emotional when I sent this out. And Idk if the moment was marred for him. I just hoped for it to be focused on him and for #SummerOfSoul to get its full shine. And most people were beyond distracted Congratulations @questlove #Oscars.”

Legendary Philly radio host Patty Jackson interviewed Smith on her show at WDAS-FM when he was in town in November to promote his new book, Will. Last night she posted footage of the slap to Twitter and captioned it: “The slow motion version OMG! Noooooooo Did he just ruin his career???”

6ABC news anchor Jim Gardner first tweeted out that he believed Smith would get “overwhelming support.”

“Just another #Oscars show. Whoa. When they take a poll, my bet is Will Smith gets overwhelming support. What do you think: unacceptably violent behavior, or understandably defending his wife? Meanwhile, I just saw #CODA this morning. Wonderful, wonderful movie. Glad it won,” he wrote.

But based on the reactions his tweet received, he later posted that his initial assumptions were wrong.

“Just to catch up, reaction on this Twitter feed to #WillSmith and what happened last night on the #Oscars has been decisively negative. Maybe 80%,” he wrote.

Gardner’s fellow anchor on 6ABC, Brian Taff, first tweeted out: “For those trashing West Philadelphia, I think it’s now abundantly evident that Bel Air is the real problem.” An hour later, he followed up with stronger words.

“To be clear — this was a live, international telecast leading to the highlight of one man’s career. In that moment, that man thought the best response to a repulsive slight was to hit the offender and shout expletives for the world to see and hear,” he wrote.

ESPN host and former Inquirer columnist Stephen A. Smith posted a video of his reaction to Twitter and captioned it: “There’s no excuse for that, Will Smith.”

In the video, Stephen A. Smith says Will Smith stained the Academy Awards.

“Props and congratulations to him for winning the Oscar cause damn it he deserved it, and I love the brother and I’m proud of him but boy was that a shameful act for him to commit tonight,” Smith said.

Steve Nelson, who played for the Eagles last season but is currently a free agent, tweeted: “Imagine getting slapped in front of millions and having to finish your speech lol that’s how it feel giving up a touchdown.”

While Eagles cornerback Darius Slay wrote: “Ain’t no way u slap me than turn your back !!”

Even Philly politicians had their takes on the Smith-Rock interaction.

State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat, posted to Twitter: “Will Smith smacking Chris Rock and Questlove winning an Oscar are the two most back to back Philly things to ever happen at the Oscars.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle referenced The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song when he wrote on Twitter: “Well, now you know why we had to get him out of Philly to go live with his aunt and uncle in Bel Air.”

Even District Attorney Larry Krasner weighed in Monday morning during his weekly news conference:

“So it was a good day for Philadelphia at the Oscars … I imagine that Will Smith and Chris Rock probably woke up this morning reconsidering their actions of yesterday,” he said. “I hope they will give each other some grace. Maybe we should all give them a little bit of grace because, as Bryan Stevenson said many times, you are not the worst thing you ever did. And that’s all I have to say.”

Staff writers Anna Orso and Rob Tornoe contributed to this article.