Will Smith Apologizes For Slapping Chris Rock At The Oscars (And Jada Pinkett-Smith Also Said Words About This)
At this point, even under-the-rock dwellers know that Will Smith slapped Chris Rock during the Oscars as an attempt to defend the honor of Will’s bad marriage ride-or-die wife Jada Pinkett-Smith. It’s the slap that has led to a million think pieces. But all of this buzz over two Black men playing a one-sided game of Slap Bet has everyone up in arms because for the first time in years people are actually talking about the Oscars once again. Including the Academy itself, who are beginning an investigation into the incident regardless of the fact that Will has finally apologized to Chris.
About an hour after Will played Patty Cake with Chris’ face, he finally won his first (and probably last) Best Actor Oscar for his role in King Richard. Through a tear-stained face, Will mentioned the advice Denzel Washington gave him prior to his win. Denzel said to Will, “At your highest moment, be careful. That’s when the devil comes for you” which loosely translates into “You REALLY fucked up tonight Youngblood. Now go dance your ass off in shame!” Which he did:
Will Smith at the #VanityFairOscarParty dancing with his Oscar to ‘Gettin Jiggy With It after slapping Chris Rock over jokes he made about Jada #AcademyAwards pic.twitter.com/WPYGEgVY6O
— GidiFeedNews (@thegidifeednews) March 28, 2022
Initially, during Will’s acceptance speech, he apologized to several people, however, Chris was not one of them proving that everybody does, indeed, hate Chris. But joy must really come in the morning because, according to People, Will has finally decided to extend an olive branch to Chris for his actions on Sunday night. Hopefully, that olive branch doesn’t turn into a switch to be used during a moment of rage where Will beats Chris like he stole something.
“Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally,” Smith began.
“I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be,” he continued, which was the first time the Oscar winner directly apologized to the man he hit. “There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”
Jada also piped in but kept it simple (she’s saving her REAL thoughts for Red Table Talk):
And according to The Hollywood Reporter, the Academy spoke out against Will’s slap and have launched a review of it:
The decision comes just hours after the officers of the Academy’s board of governors — including president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson — convened Monday for an emergency phone call about the incident. Shortly thereafter, the Academy issued a statement declaring: “The Academy condemns the actions of Mr. Smith at last night’s show. We have officially started a formal review around the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct and California law.”
More than likely Will’s Oscar will not be taken back, but there will be some type of action taken against him. And it’s a shame because Will’s moment of toxic masculinity took away from a night of major accomplishments including fellow Philly native Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson‘s first win for the powerful documentary Summer of Soul. Bottom line, none of this should have happened. And honestly, none of this would have happened had they enlisted the powerful journalistic stylings of Laverne Cox, who previously joked about Will and Jada’s entanglement during an interview and Will kept his hands to himself. And not because Laverne keeps it classy, but mainly because had he tried that mess with her they would have been starring in a new 5 second limited series called Orange is the New Black-Eye.
Pic: InstarImages