UPDATE: In a just-released 5-minute-44-second video, Will Smith has broken his silence on the unfortunate “slap heard around the world,” in which he slapped Oscar host Chris Rock after making fun of his wife Smith, Jada.  Pinkett Smith.  This was before Smith was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actor.

The apology was expected and Smith did so in the form of answers to questions posed online.  While there was the expectation that Smith might opt ​​for a high-profile TV interview over his apology to Oprah Winfrey on a late-night show, he chose to sit back and calmly answer questions on social media.

The first was directed at Rock, the standup comic who made a joke about Pinkett Smith’s close-cropped hair, perhaps unaware that she suffers from alopecia.  Asked why he didn’t apologize to Rock in his acceptance speech, Smith said:

“I was clouded by that point.  It’s all a blur.  I contacted Chris and the message he got back is that he is not ready to talk.  When he is, he will reach out.  I’ll tell you, Chris, I apologize.  My behavior was unacceptable and I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.  I want to apologize to Chris’ mother.  I saw an interview [she] he did, and that was one of the things I hadn’t realized.  I was not thinking, but how many people were hurt at that moment.  I want to apologize to Chris’s mother, I want to apologize to Chris’ family and Tony Rock in particular.  We had a great relationship.  Tony Rock was my man.  This is probably irreparable.  I’ve spent the last three months replaying and understanding the nuance and complexity of what happened at that moment.  I’m not going to try to unpack all of that right now, but I can tell you all, there is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave at that time.  No part of me believes that this is the optimal way to handle a feeling of disrespect or offense.”

Smith addressed whether his wife prompted his decision to walk up to the stage from his front-row seat to hit a stunned rock in the middle of his presentation of Questlove’s Best Documentary Award for Summer of Soul.  Rock handled it as stoically as one could imagine, continuing after saying, “Will Smith just slapped me,” as the actor took his place and yelled at Rock to keep his wife’s name out of his mouth of.  Smith answered the question as follows:

“No. I made a choice on my own, from my own experience and my history with Chris. Jada had nothing to do with it. I’m sorry, baby, and I want to apologize to my kids and my family for warmth that I brought to all of us.”

He also apologized to the nominees whose Oscars went unnoticed because viewers were so stunned by the slap.  This included Jessica Chastain, who won Best Actress, and the cast of CODA, who won Best Picture.  

“For all my candidates, this is a community.  I won because you voted for me and it really breaks my heart that I stole and tarnished your moment.  I can still see Questlove’s eyes – it happened at Questlove’s award – and I’m sorry he’s not really adequate.”

Finally, Smith concluded with this:  

“Two things. One, disappointing people is my central trauma. I hate it when I disappoint people, so it hurts me psychologically and emotionally that I didn’t live up to people’s image and impression of me. The work I’m trying to do is, I deeply regret and I try to repent without being ashamed of myself. I’m human and I made a mistake and I try not to think of myself as a piece of soft, so I would say to these people, I know it was confusing, I know it was shocking, but you I promise I am deeply committed and committed to putting light, love and joy into the world. If you continue, I promise we can be friends again.”

It will be interesting to see the reaction.  Many felt that despite an action that earned him a ten-year ban from the Academy, Smith was always an admirable man who had a terrible time in the worst possible place to do so.

Apple will test the global public’s willingness to welcome Smith back when Emancipation is released in December.  While it was reported that the film would be delayed by a year – those reports were just speculation – Apple will be leaning towards the film, especially after the release of the other big Oscar season hit, Killers of the Flower Moon, at the upcoming Cannes.

The emancipation is complete and the sources said that it has been tested many times and has scored very high marks.  In the Antoine Fuqua-directed drama from a script by William N. Collage, Smith plays Peter.  He is an enslaved man and the film is an apocalyptic style thriller about his harrowing escapes to freedom through the swamps of Louisiana.  When Peter reaches the North, he joins the Union Army.  During his physical, doctors were shocked when he removed his shirt and bore the scars of a near-fatal blow to his back.  They took pictures and these were published in newspapers all over the world.  They provided a gruesome testament to the brutality and cruelty of slavery in the antebellum South.  So indelible that these images could be seen as a precursor to the publication of photos of Emmett Till and videos of the killing of George Floyd. 

 Smith is the star of the film as well as a producer, which would put him in two major categories.  Some said that if the slap hadn’t happened, he would have been the favorite to win back-to-back Best Actor Oscars.  I’ve also heard that Emancipation is Antoine Fuqua’s best directorial effort since Training Day.  We’ll see how the movie goes, but Smith’s apology is certainly a first step in getting back on the bright side of Hollywood’s playbook. 

Watch the video of Smith’s remarks below.