‘S.N.L.’ Spends a Night at the Oscars With Will Smith

n his opening monologue on “Saturday Night Live,” the host and comedian Jerrod Carmichael swore he wouldn’t do it. “I’m not gonna talk about it,” he said. He didn’t even have to say what itwas.

But sure enough, “S.N.L.” found several ways to take on the widely discussed incident from last weekend’s Academy Awards, in which Will Smith slapped Chris Rock (a former “S.N.L.” cast member) after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.

The Slap was addressed most directly in a sketch that aired about halfway through the program, which cast Chris Redd as Smith and Carmichael as a seat filler at the Oscars show who found himself next to Smith in the moments before Rock made his remarks.

Carmichael at first professed to be a fan of Smith’s, saying that he admired his film “The Pursuit of Happyness” and still used his song “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” as his ringtone. He asked if he could take a selfie just as they noticed Rock had come onstage.

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