Will Smith Reflects on “Slapping Incident” at Academy Awards Ceremony

Last Updated on 12/02/2022 by てんしょく飯

Actor Will Smith, who caused a stir when he slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Academy Awards ceremony in March of this year, appeared on a talk show and spoke about the incident himself.

Will Smith talks about the slapping incident at the Academy Awards ceremony

Actor Will Smith, who caused a stir when he was slapped at the Academy Awards ceremony held in March this year, reflected on the incident on “The Daily Show,” a talk show hosted by popular comedian Trevor Noah.

As many of you may know, comedian Chris Rock, who appeared as a presenter at the awards ceremony, made a joke about Will’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, which infuriated Will, who suddenly went on stage and slapped Chris. Will’s anger was still unrelenting, and he cursed Chris using the F-word, a banned broadcast term, and the moment was broadcast in the U.S. without sound.

As a matter of fact, Jada suffers from alopecia and has had a shaved head since 2021 because of it. It is unclear whether Chris knew this fact or not, but TMZ reported that “Chris did not know that Jada had alopecia.

Will subsequently took responsibility for the uproar and resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood, which hosts the Academy Awards. Furthermore, the Academy announced that Will would be banned from attending events sponsored by the organization, including the Academy Awards ceremony, for the next 10 years.

In his first appearance on a talk show since the controversy, he joked and laughed, saying, “I disappeared,” and “What have you been doing (while I was gone)? Will was laughing as he cracked jokes such as, “I disappeared,” and “What did you guys do (while I was gone)?

As you can imagine, it was a horrible night. There are subtle differences and complications behind it, but in the end, I lost myself. I had something on my mind that night. That doesn’t justify my actions. I just had a lot going on. I felt like a young child watching his father beat his mother. At that moment, it all came up (inside me). That was not who I wanted to be.”

He continued, “What did I learn from that experience? We have to be kind to each other. And that is very difficult. The hardest thing for me was to put my own difficulties on the shelf and make it harder for others. People who have been hurt often say that people who have been hurt hurt hurt others, and I think I understand that a little bit now,” he said.