Hollywood is still talking about Will Smith's Oscars slap a week later at the Grammys

The infamous slap. Photo: Reuters

Hollywood hasn't stopped talking about the slap all week. So why would they stop at the Grammys?

A week ago, Will Smith became the subject of every headline, tweet, celebrity comment and Saturday Night Live joke after he slapped Chris Rock onstage at last Sunday's Oscars over a joke the comedian made about Jada Pinkett Smith.

Since then, the new Oscar winner has apologised to Rock and withdrawn from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organisation behind the awards show. Rock first acknowledged the incident earlier this week at a comedy show ("I'm still kind of processing what happened") and Pinkett Smith shared an Instagram post promoting "healing".

Here's how stars at the Grammy Awards are continuing to weigh in on the infamous slap.

Jimmie Allen says 'it's none of my business' on red carpet

On the red carpet, comedian Chelsea Handler told USA Today she thought Sunday's show would be much more subdued on stage and predicts attendees will be more respectful of nominees and winners, as opposed to last week.

Country music artiste Mickey Guyton, up for three categories this year, is still processing what happened at the Oscars, she said, also predicting nothing similar will happen at the Grammys.

"I wasn't there," country music singer and best new artist nominee Jimmie Allen said. "It's none of my business."

Host Trevor Noah vows to keep 'people's names out of our mouths'

Comedian and late night host Trevor Noah returned to host the Grammys for the second year in a row and made a quick reference to Smith's explicit comments at the Oscars during his opening monologue.

"It is going to be such a beautiful evening. Don't even think of it as an award show — this is a concert where we're going to be giving out awards," Noah said. "We're going to be listening to some music, we're going to be dancing, we're going to be singing, we're going to be keeping people's names out of our mouths and we're going to be giving out awards all throughout the night."

After slapping Rock, Smith shouted at the comedian to "keep my wife's name out of your (expletive) mouth".

Questlove asks audience to 'stay 500 feet away' while he presents onstage

Questlove, whose film Summer Of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) last week won the Oscar for best documentary feature — the category Rock presented — presented a category of his own early on at the Grammys.

"I'm going to present this award and I trust that you people will stay 500 feet away from me. Just playing," he told the audience onstage before the award for song of the year went to Silk Sonic's Leave The Door Open.

Earlier in the evening, Questlove won best music film for Summer Of Soul. He did not appear to speak to any press while on the red carpet.

Backstage at the Oscars last week immediately after the incident, Questlove declined to answer a reporter's question about what happened.

"I'm not talking about that," the musician-turned-director replied. "We're very happy right now to accept this award." – USA Today/Tribune News Service