Introducing the comic as a presenter at the Premiere Ceremony, LeVar Burton also roasts the 'King Richard' actor as he warns Grammys audience to remain seated and 'keep your hands to yourselves.'
- Apr 4, 2022
AceShowbiz - Will Smith couldn't help becoming the butt of the jokes at the Grammys following his Oscars slap. Taking place only one week after the infamous incident, the 64th annual Grammy Awards featured references to the awkward confrontation at the Academy Awards, with LeVar Burton and Nate Bargatze poking fun at it during the Premiere Ceremony.
At the pre-telecast event, Burton roasted Smith when he introduced Bargatze as the next presenter. "Now, I want to warn you all that our next presenter is a comedian, if you know what I mean," he told the audience. "So I need to caution everybody: remain in your seats and keep your hands to yourselves. All right?"
Burton went on introducing Bargatze as a comic who is "selling out shows across America with clean family-friendly comedy and reaching another milestone today with a nomination for best comedy album."
Bargatze joined in on the roast as he showed up onstage wearing a helmet. "They said comedians have to wear these now at awards shows during the joke parts," he said, trying to avoid getting slapped like Chris Rock.
"It doesn't even cover your face, I think it just focuses where you would hit me…," he added of the helmet. He eventually took it off, saying, "All right, this is stupid, I'll take it off," before presenting the awards.
Most of the awards were announced during the three-hour-plus webcast, while only nine main categories were presented during the prime time telecast. Trevor Noah, who hosted the main ceremony, also made a reference to the Oscars slap when opening the show.
