Joy Behar Plays Shrink With Will Smith: His 9-Year-Old Self Said 'Defend Mommy'

Joy Behar may not be a psychologist, but that didn't stop her from diagnosing Will Smith in the wake of his violent outburst at the Oscars. Tuesday morning on The View, the longtime co-host suggested that Smith's reaction to Chris Rock's joke about Jada Pinkett Smith was a delayed response to him witnessing his mother's abuse as a child, memories he discussed at length in his memoir. "That little 9-year-old boy is living in Will Smith," said Behar. "And he got the signal: defend mommy. Defend your wife. Defend who you could not defend when you were 9-years-old against this abusive person."

After spending Monday complaining that "comedians are in danger everywhere" in the wake of the Oscars, Behar changed tact and put on her therapist hat this morning. "I have a different idea today because I've been reading more about Will Smith," she said. "And in his book he writes, 'When I was 9 years old, I watched my father punch my mother ... That moment in that bedroom, probably more than any other moment in my life, has defined who I am.'"

"I'm not a psychologist. I'm not a shrink, even though I play one in some stupid movies I've been in," continued Behar, before immediately assuming the role. The outspoken co-host said that Rock's joke about Pinkett Smith Smith "signaled" his 9-year-old self to "defend mommy, defend your wife." Added Behar, "Poor Chris was caught up in the crosshairs of what they call a transference onto himself. And I think that's what motivated the kid — the guy."

"This is not to say that a grown-up should not have impulse control," clarified Behar. "A shrink that I know — 'Look at the original rooms,' she said, 'And you will see what motivates a person, what make them act.' And I think that's what happened to him in that moment."

WILL SMITH APOLOGIZES TO CHRIS ROCK: The actor apologized for slapping comedian Chris Rock following a joke he made about wife Jada Pinkett Smith at the #Oscars — #TheView panel weighs in after Smith’s mother spoke out saying she was “surprised” by his behavior. pic.twitter.com/j1Vana6eAX

— The View (@TheView) March 29, 2022

Meanwhile, Whoopi Goldberg continued to condemn the act without criticizing Smith himself. The EGOT winner praised him for issuing a public apology, saying that she "takes people's apologies seriously" and accepts them at face-value. "I accept what he said because I know how important it is to have people say, 'I hear you,'" said Whoopi. "So I heard you, and I'm glad you said it."

After guest co-host Tara Setmayer and Sunny Hostin called out the Oscars for neglecting to address the altercation that evening, Whoopi vociferously defended the Academy. "I'm not going to talk to you about what's going on with the Oscars. I'm not going to do that," the EGOT winner (and Academy member) told Hostin. "There are consequences. There are big consequences. Nobody is okay with what happened — nobody. What's happening is people are now starting to calm down and say, 'Wait a minute, what could have triggered this?'"

"The thing I also need to tell people is the reason no one got up to go comfort Chris is because they weren't going to let anyone else on the stage," she continued. "The reason people got up and went over to [Smith] is because a lot of people thought, 'Oh my god, is he having a break? Do we need to get him out? What do we need to do?' And the reason they didn't go and take him out is because that would've been another 15, 20 minute explanation of why are we taking a Black man out five seconds before they're about to decide whether he's won an Oscar or not."

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.