During this year’s Grammy Awards, Questlove appeared to present the Song of the Year award (which was ultimately given to Silk Sonic for their hit single “Leave The Door Open”). As such, the Roots drummer and Oscar award winner decided to deliver a lighthearted joke in regards to the widely reportedly controversy that took place during last weekend’s Academy Awards ceremony:
“Alright, I’m gonna present this award, and I trust that you people will stay 500 feet away from me. Just playing.”
He also made sure to let everyone know about his own achievement — a Best Documentary Oscar earned via the critically acclaimed film Summer of Soul:
“They say it’s better to give than receive, and I’m not so sure about that because last Sunday of course, it felt pretty good to receive an award.”
For those not aware, last Sunday saw a live telecast of this year’s Academy Awards, and during the presentation for the aforementioned award, Chris Rock made an arguably ill-advised joke in regards to Jada Pinkett Smith‘s short hairstyle. In response, Will Smith then took to the stage and proceeded to slap the comedian before returning to his seat to yell an expletive warning to Rock about speaking down on his wife’s name.
The proverbial noise following the slap seen and heard around the world has been deafening, to say the least. While Rock has been relatively mum about the situation, Smith did provide an apology to all of the parties involved:
“I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. … I would also like to apologize to the Academy, the producers of the show, all the attendees and everyone watching around the world. I would like to apologize to the Williams Family and my King Richard Family.”
Check out Questlove’s presentation and much more over at the Grammys official website.