Terry Crews, Will Smith’s pal, calls the Oscar ban “overkill.”

After slapping Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards, actor Terry Crews, who also happens to be Will Smith’s close buddy, shared his two cents on the King Richard star being banned from the Oscars for the next ten years.

“Both Will Smith and Chris Rock are close, dear friends of mine – I love them both as brothers,” Crews said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “But there was a point in my life where I was Will Smith at that moment, and let me tell you, I’ve done worse than Will.”

“People were like, ‘What in the world are you doing?'” says the narrator. ‘You have to promise me you would never go off like this,’ my wife had to say. He said, “You didn’t need to take this man up and throw him on his head, on the concrete.”

“(It was) overdone, the punishment did not suit the offence,” Crews said of Academy’s response to the iconic slap. I owe Chris a debt of gratitude, but I also understand Will’s position. Because I was there, I’m not one to demonise Will.”

On the other side, Smith stated that he “accepts and respects the Academy’s judgement.”