Cory Booker on The Slap: 'Nothing at all justifies violence,' but 'we've all made mistakes'

As the rest of us continue to watch, rewatch, and discuss what happened at Sunday's Academy Awards (i.e. Will Smith slapping Chris Rock on stage), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has offered up his take on the situation.

"A lot of us who are in public life know that there are going to be cruel jokes, and I've never been one to endorse that kind of humor," Booker said. "I think the best of our comedians, which I've seen Chris Rock do, are ones that highlight injustices, call our attention and engage us in a way with the absurdity ... of the injustice of this world."

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.