Los Angeles, Nov 15 (IANS): Actress Regina Hall hopes Jimmy Kimmel can avoid a repeat of the Will Smith and Chris Rock incident at the Oscars.

The late night talk show star will be at the helm of the 2023 Academy Awards in February, and Regina - who hosted earlier this year alongside Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes - joked about the precautions that need to be taken after Will went on stage and struck comedian Chris after a quip about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Speaking about Jimmy hosting next year, Regina quipped to 'Entertainment Tonight': "I think it's a really bad idea. No, I'm joking. We'll make sure Jimmy's got something on so he doesn't get injured onstage and nobody comes up out the audience.

"But I think it's gonna be a fun show and he's tried and true, so I'm excited to see what he's gonna do."

Over summer, Hall thanked Will for apologising in a video message.

She said: "Life happens. I always say any time I feel like someone genuinely, like you know, offering an apology - I mean, what what can you say to that but thank you? I mean, it's great."

Last month, Will blamed being "fogged out" and "fuzzy" for not saying sorry to Chris at the time.

The Hollywood star resigned from the Academy in the wake of the row and was subsequently banned from the Oscars and all of the organisation's events for the next decade.

Will said: "I've reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he's not ready to talk ... when he is, he will reach out. So I will say to you, Chris, I apologise to you.

"My behaviour was unacceptable and I'm here whenever you're ready to talk."

Will also apologised to Chris' mother and his entire family.