The View bosses have come under fire for using Will Smith’s Oscars slap as a Halloween costume.
In March, the Fresh Prince of Bel Air actor left many reeling when he stormed on stage at the ceremony to confront Chris Rock over a joke he made about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair.
In shocking scenes, he slapped the comedian before returning to his seat, warning the Everybody Hates Chris star to keep her name out of his mouth.
Following the incident, Will publicly apologized and resigned from the Academy – and was later banned from attending any of the organization’s events for a decade.
On today’s episode of the View, the presenters were joined by wardrobe supervisor, Ashley Alderfer-Kaufman for a segment on costumes for children, with a string of youngsters dressed up as the biggest topics of the year.
At the very end, a young boy appeared on the stage in a gold bodysuit, complete with a red handprint on his face to emulate the incident.
The View has been slammed by unhappy fans on social media (Picture: ABC)
‘We do not want to endorse violence of any kind, but we couldn’t help but talk about one of the hottest hot topics of this year,’ Ashley told viewers.
‘So we have our interpretation, we have an Oscar statue, we call this the Oscar Slap. He has a red face paint on the statue.’
Other ‘hot topics’ included a group of kids dressed as the Mar-a-Lago raid on Donald Trump, and two youngsters appearing as Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling from the upcoming Barbie movie.
One child was dressed up as the infamous slap (Picture: ABC)
However, many watching from home were left unimpressed by the final outfit, and slammed the decision to make light of the incident.
‘The Oscar slap was too much,’ one penned, as many more branded it ‘bad taste’.
‘This wasn’t that funny, and the last kid looked so uncomfortable. Might want to rethink the bit for next Halloween,’ another suggested.
A YouTube user wrote: ‘The Oscar Slap costume felt a little cringeworthy. It was in poor taste and the boy looked like he was in literal pain.’
Will left the world reeling when he slapped Chris Rock on stage (Picture: Getty)
‘Super funny making a kid dress up in a costume that represents physical assault, just screams fun,’ a fan wrote.
An unimpressed viewer added: ‘I’m so disappointed in The View for this.’
Bosses have yet to address the criticism publicly.
Will has since been banned from the Oscars for a decade following the incident (Picture: Getty)
Will took a back seat from the spotlight after the drama unfolded at this year’s Oscars ceremony, but later issued a public apology to Chris over his actions.
‘I’ve reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he’s not ready to talk and when he is, he’ll reach out,’ he said in July.
‘I will say to you Chris, I apologize to you, my behavior was unacceptable, and I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.
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‘I spent the last three months replaying and understanding the nuances and the complexities of what happened in that moment, and I’m not going to try to unpack all of that right now.
‘But I can say to all of you – there is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment.
‘There is no part of me that thinks that’s the optimal way to handle a feeling of disrespect or insults.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted reps for The View for a comment.
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‘The Oscar slap was too much.’
