LeVar Burton Warns Audience To "Remain In Your Seats" While Introducing Grammys Presenter

LeVar Burton trolled Will Smith during the Grammy Awards on Sunday.

BYCole Blake
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LeVar Burton warned the crowd at the Grammy Awards to keep their hands to themselves on Sunday night while introducing presenter, Nate Bargatze. The comment was a clear joke aimed at Will Smith who slapped Chris Rock during the Oscars ceremony, last month.

“Now, I want to warn you all that our next presenter is a comedian, if you know what I mean,” Burton told the audience. “So I need to caution everybody: remain in your seats and keep your hands to yourselves.”

Ian Tuttle / Getty Images

Bargatze then walked on stage wearing a helmet.

“They said comedians have to wear these now at award shows during the joke part,” he said. “It doesn’t even cover your face. I think it just focuses where you would hit me.”

The joke was an obvious reference to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock during the Oscars, last month. The infamous incident led to Smith resigning his Academy membership as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors is currently deciding on disciplinary action against the legendary actor.

The Grammy ceremony is airing live at 8:00 PM, ET. For a full updated list of winners and nominees, head here.


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About The Author
Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.