Piers Morgan has defended Will Smith after the actor sensationally slapped Chris Rock on stage at Sunday night's Oscars ceremony in Hollywood.
The outspoken presenter, 56, might be in the minority of people in the King Richard star's corner, but he admits he feels "moved to defend him".
Will took offence to the comedian's joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith while on stage and took it upon himself to slap him before returning to his seat and yelling: "Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth!"
And now, after the dust has somewhat settled, Piers insists that despite Will originally laughing at Chris' GI Jane joke, he would have felt compelled to protect his wife when he noticed she was far from impressed with the apparent mocking of her alopecia.
Writing in The Sun, Piers said: "If Rock DID know [about her condition] then it was a nasty, cruel quip that warranted a husband’s wrath.
"And whilst I don’t condone violence, Will Smith didn’t punch him. It was just a slap, that Rock shrugged off with good humour."
The former Good Morning Britain man went on to defend the Fresh Prince star against the current cancel culture mob who he believes want to destroy Will and his legacy.
Piers continued: "He was standing up for his wife, the woman from whom he blew off the dust when she was going through a rough time, and said he was going to make shine, and created a safe space for her to get healthy and to grow and define herself.
"In previous eras, he’d have been saluted for defending his girl, not savaged by an overly sensitive snowflake society."
Straight after the shocking incident celebs took to social media to let their own thoughts be known.
Among those was Serena Williams - Will portrayed her father in the epic film King Richard which landed Will his Oscar for Best Actor.
The tennis star, 40, shared her stunned reaction to the incident in a series of clips on her Instagram Stories, revealing she was just as shocked as everyone else.
In the first clip, she can be seen wide-eyed and looking around in disbelief, while in a second video, she told the camera she had to sit down out of shock.
Elsewhere, One Tree Hill star Sophia Bush pointed out that violence was unwarranted despite such a "cruel" joke.
"Violence isn’t ok. Assault is never the answer. Also? This is the 2nd time that Chris has made fun of Jada on the #Oscars stage, & tonight he went after her alopecia," the actress mused on Twitter.
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at webcelebs@mirror.co.uk or call us direct 0207 29 33033.
