Grammys 2022: Trevor Noah during the show. (Image courtesy: AFP)

New Delhi:

Just a week after the controversial Oscars ceremony held last week, comedian Trevor Noah opened the 64th Annual Grammy Awards on Monday and he made one thing very clear, “Don’t even think of this as an award show,” referring to the infamous Will Smith-Chris Rock slapgate at the Academy Awards. Trevor Noah, who hosted the Grammys last year as well, said, “It’s a concert where we are giving out awards, we will be listening to music, dancing, sing, keeping people’s names out of our mouths and we are going to give people awards all throughout the night. So let’s get straight.”

Throwback to last Sunday, when Chris Rock appeared on the Oscars stage to present the award for Best Documentary Feature, where he made a joke about Will Smith’s wife and actor Jada Pinkett Smith being in “G.I. Jane” because of her shaved head, which triggered the The Pursuit Of Happyness actor, who hit Chris Rock and returned to his seat and yelled, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f*****g mouth.” Later, while receiving the Best Actor trophy, Will Smith apologised to the Academy and fellow nominees.

Meanwhile, musician Questlove, who was on stage to present the Grammy for Song Of The Year, said, “All right, I am going to present this award and I trust that you people will stay 500 feet away from me. As they say it is far better to give than to receive. Well, I’m not so sure about that because last Sunday it felt pretty good to receive.”

After assaulting Chris Rock at the Oscars, Will Smith apologised to the comedian in an Instagram post where he said that he is “embarrassed” about what he did and an excerpt from his post read, “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences started a “formal review” of the situation earlier last week and apologised to Chris Rock for the incident. “Mr Rock, we apologize to you for what you experienced on our stage and thank you for your resilience in that moment,” the Academy said in a statement, reported news agency AFP. It also said that Will Smith had been asked to leave the Oscars after the slap and refused – doubt has been cast on this claim.

Over the weekend, Will Smith resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; the Academy said the resignation had been accepted