Comedian Amy Schumer had the honour of hosting one of the most memorable award shows ever back in 2022.
It might be hard to believe, but it has nearly been two whole years since Will Smith slapped the sh*t out of Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith's lack of hair. What a time that was.
Well, it seems there might have been another on-stage scrap to worry about if Schumer didn't keep her mouth shut.
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The actress, 42, revealed she was supposed to drop a controversial joke about Alec Baldwin at the 94th Academy Awards, but said the show's bigwigs put their foot down and 'banned' her from doing so.
She spilled the behind the scenes secrets from her 2022 presenting gig alongside Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes after being left gutted that some of her so-called best material went to waste.
During a set at the Las Vegas’ Mirage Theatre, Schumer revealed what really went down in the lead-up to - and during - the Oscars, as well as why awards bosses forced her to put a sock in it.
She compared to Smith to legendary boxer Muhammed Ali when discussing the moment he laid into Rock on stage - which she described as a 'bummer'.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the funnywoman said: "I was kind of feeling myself…and then all of a sudden Ali was making his way up. All I can say is that it was really sad, and I think it says so much about toxic masculinity.
"It was really upsetting, but I think the best way to comfort ourselves would be for me to say the Oscar jokes that I wasn’t allowed to say on TV."
Schumer then ran down the list of her own too-taboo-for-TV gags.
"I want to preface these Oscar jokes by saying that my lawyer said not to say these," she told the audience.
"Don’t tell anybody and don’t get mad at me," she added, before turning her attention to Alec Baldwin.
The actor has recently been charged with a fresh count of involuntary manslaughter following the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his film Rust in October 2021.
The 65-year-old was practicing how to fire a Colt .45 pistol when the gun went off and fatally struck Hutchins, as well as director Joel Souza, who was also wounded in the incident.
Schumer didn't think the delicateness of the topic made it off limits for comedians to touch on though and said she had intended to crack a joke about the tragedy at the Oscars - but instead, she told fans in Las Vegas.
"'Don’t Look Up’ is the name of a movie? More like don’t look down the barrel of Alec Baldwin’s shotgun,” she said.
“I wasn’t allowed to say any of that [at the Oscars], but you can just come up and [slap] someone," she laughed.
In her Netflix comedy special Emergency Contact, Schumer dedicates a lengthy portion of her set to making wisecracks at the expense of Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria, with a lot of puns focusing on the fatal shooting.
Topics: Celebrity, Oscars, Will Smith, US News
Olivia Burke