As the hot takes and opinions on Will Smith slapping Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars last Sunday show no sign of stopping, Jeremy Clarkson has used the scene to take a trip down memory lane into his past feud with Piers Morgan.
Writing in his latest Sunday Times column, the former Top Gear star argued that if you ‘boiled the incident down to its nub, a man abused another man’s wife and got a slap’.
The actor had faced criticism for storming the stage and hitting the comedian after he compared Will’s wife Jada to GI Jane, apparently not knowing that her shaved hairstyle was due to the medical condition alopecia, which causes hair loss.
Reasoning that you would see ‘much the same sort of thing in any pub and any club in any town on any night in the entire world’, he then revealed that ‘awards ceremonies seem to make it much more likely’, before adding: ‘Trust me. I know.’
The 61-year-old then harked back to a media awards event 18 years ago, where he recalled hitting old rival Piers Morgan for a very similar reason.
‘At the 2004 British Press Awards I ran into Piers Morgan, who said something unkind about my wife,’ he wrote. ‘So, even though I was calm and sober, having just come from a recording of Call My Bluff, I hit him.
‘And immediately a gang of portly hacks gathered round, chanting, “Finish it”, while the motoring editor of The Sun held everyone back by warning them that he was from Newcastle.’
The punch-up – which was said to involve Jeremy punching Piers three times in the face – left Jeremy with a broken finger and Piers with a scar above one eye from a ring Jeremy was wearing.
The pair’s feud was sparked two years prior by Piers, who was a newspaper editor at the time, publishing photos of Jeremy with a woman who wasn’t his wife, which left his family upset by the fallout.
A year afterwards, in 2003, Jeremy then poured a glass of water over Piers’ crotch during Concorde’s last ever commercial flight, when they were seated near one another.
However, Piers revealed in his Daily Mail column back in 2014 that they had cleared the air via a very British tradition – a five-hour drinking session to let their feelings out.
They’ve since had a photo taken together in Saint Tropez and even worked together on a charity special of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? in 2020, but Piers was humiliated when he crashed out with just £1,000.
Motoring expert Jeremy then suffered his own embarrassment on the show he hosts after giving contestant comedian Ronni Ancona the wrong answer for a question on UK motorways.
Meanwhile, King Richard star Smith – who moments after hitting presenter Rock was awarded the best actor Oscar – has since publicly apologised to Rock and resigned from the Academy.
Having been facing expulsion or suspension from the organisation following the incident, and with an investigation still ongoing, the 53-year-old said in a statement via Variety: ‘The list of those I have hurt is long and includes Chris, his family, many of my dear friends and loved ones, all those in attendance, and global audiences at home.
‘I betrayed the trust of the Academy. I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work. I am heartbroken.’
Credit: Original article published here.You can read this post on My Celebrity Life.