Joe Rogan Says Will Smith Slap Sets Horrible Precedent for Comedy Clubs: Will People Just ‘Smack’ Comics Now?

Joe Rogan says Will Smith‘s Oscars meltdown sets a dangerous precedent for comedy and live performances.

“It was a rare instance where someone is so enormously famous and successful like Will Smith that they literally still allowed him to not just win the Academy Award but also go up and accept it and give a speech after he assaulted a small comedian,” he said on Tuesday’s episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.

MMA fighter Josh Barnett joined Rogan on the show and agreed, “they should’ve ejected him! They should’ve ejected him from the show!”

Rogan continued, “you can’t just go smack a man in the face in front of the world and go about business as usual. It sets a terrible precedent in so many different ways. It sets a terrible precedent for comedy clubs. Like, are people going to decide to go on stage and smack a comedian now?”

“I don’t necessarily think people are going to change their behavior but dumb people might,” he said. “But also it’s like what are we saying as a society when the people that we look up to, for whatever reason, for good or for bad, we look up to actors. And the Academy Awards is supposed to be them in their most regal- their most regal outfits, their best behavior and to drop down to violence for something so innocuous as a G.I. Jane joke.”

He concluded, “this is a nonsense scene where you’re allowed to just go smack someone!”

Listen above via The Joe Rogan Experience.