Eight months after the infamous Oscar slap, Will Smith finally spoke about his confrontation with Chris Rock at the award show.
On March 28, 2022, on the eve of the 94th Academy Awards, the world witnessed an iconic slap by Will Smith. When presenter Chris Rock joked about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, initially, everyone laughed, including Smith himself. But a few moments later, the actor stood up from his seat and went on stage, where he smacked Chris and said, “keep my wife’s name outta your ****ing mouth.”
After the smacking, the 54-year-old actor came under heavy criticism and backlash, and most people, including his fellow actors and colleagues, bashed him for reacting so aggressively.
Recently, the Men in Black actor appeared on Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show to promote his new Apple TV+ film, Emancipation. In his interview with Noah, Will candidly addressed the slap and his apology.
“You know, it’s been a while since I last saw you; it’s been a while since many people have seen you,” said Noah while referencing that the Gemini Man actor had been laying low since the Oscars.
“Yeah, I’ve been away,” Smith replied. Then he turned toward the audience and asked how they were doing.
“I can only imagine what it’s been like for you because it’s been weird for many of us. What has the journey been like since that day?” Said Noah.
“That was a horrific night, as you can imagine. There’s many nuances and complexities to it, as you know. But at the end of the day, I just lost it,” Smith said.
The Pursuit of Happyness actor said that he was going through something that night, and Rock’s comment triggered him.
“I guess what I would say is that you just never know what somebody’s going through,” he told Trevor.
“You know, in the audience right now, you’re sitting next to strangers. And somebody’s mother died last week, you know. Somebody’s child is sick. Somebody just lost their job. Somebody just found out their spouse cheated… You just don’t know what’s going on with people.”
He added, “I was going through something that night. And not that that justifies my behavior at all. You’re asking what did I learn and it’s that we just got to be nice to each other, man. It’s hard. And I guess the thing that was most painful for me is that I took my hard and made it hard for other people.”
The 38-year-old Daily Show host told the award-winning actor that although he stood up for the wrong thing at the wrong time, the response resulted from years of eventful happenings in his personal life.
“It was a lot of things. It was the little boy that watched his father beat up his mother. It’s all of that just bubbled up at that moment. It’s just – that’s not who I want to be,” Smith agreed.
When Noah said that every human is capable of making mistakes, and Smith also made a mistake, even though that was quite shocking for everyone who witnessed the scene because they were not expecting Smith to react that way.
“I also think it’s not who you are,” he said. “I also speak for people when I say; I don’t want that to define you. I don’t think that should define you.”
Smith replied, “That was one of the big things over the last couple of months, you know. That I had to forgive myself for being human.”
He concluded the interview by saying that human beings are prone to making mistakes and he also made one. But he has forgiven himself for that horrible mistake.
“I had to forgive myself for being human,” he said. “There’s no better than hating the fact that I’m human more than me. I’ve always wanted to be Superman.”
“I’ve always wanted to swoop in and save the damsel in distress and I had to humble down and realize that I’m a flawed human and I still have an opportunity to go out in the world and contribute in a way that fills my heart and hopefully helps other people.”
What are your views on Will Smith’s latest interview and his statements about the horrible Oscar slap? Let us know in the comments.
Sources: The Daily Show – CBS News
I feel like Chris Rock should not have made fun of Jada. He exhibited bullying behavior. With that being said Will should not have slapped him but it was understandable