Will Smith says “there’s no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave at that moment” in explaining his decision to slap Chris Rock during the Oscars in March 2022.
In a new Instagram video, the King Richard star answers a series of questions about that night, offering yet another apology to Rock, while also discussing the impact it had on Rock’s family. if he lived up to his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s eyes when she took the stage. the effects his actions had on the night’s other nominees and winners. and more.
“I was clouded from that point,” Smith says, explaining why it took so long to apologize to Rock. “It’s all a blur. I contacted Chris and the message he got back is that he is not ready to talk. And when he is, he will stretch out his hand.”
Smith continues to address Rock directly, saying he’s “here whenever you’re ready to talk,” before apologizing to Rock’s mother and brother, Tony Rock.
“That was one of the things about that moment that I just didn’t realize,” Smith reflects. “I wasn’t thinking about how many people were injured at the time. Well, I want to apologize to Chris’ mother. I want to apologize to Chris’ family — specifically, Tony Rock. We had a great relationship. You know, Tony Rock was my man and that’s probably irreparable.”
Smith also answered a question about whether his reaction was in response to his wife’s eye-rolling after Rock’s joke about her baldness, which many noted may have been a touchy subject due to her alopecia.
“I made a choice on my own, from my own experiences, from my history with Chris. Jada had nothing to do [with it],” Smith said, before acknowledging the “heat” his wife and children have taken.
Towards the end of the video, Smith acknowledges how his actions affected his candidates.
“It really breaks my heart that I stole and tarnished your moment,” Smith says, addressing Questlove, who took to the Oscars stage immediately after the incident to accept the award for best documentary feature for his work Summer of Soul . “Sorry is not really sufficient.”
He ends the video by taking what he would say to the people who looked at him before the Oscars incident. Smith calls disappointed people “my central trauma” and notes that he hates “when I disappoint people.”
“So it hurts. It hurts me psychologically and emotionally to know that I didn’t live up to people’s image and impression of me,” he says, adding that he is “deeply remorseful” but tries to be as “unashamed” of himself. “I’m human and I made a mistake, and I try not to think of myself as a piece of shit.”
“I would say to these people: I know it was confusing. I know it was shocking. But I promise you, I am deeply committed and dedicated to putting light and love and joy into the world,” Smith says as a closing note. “And if you keep going, I promise we can be friends again.”
This is the third apology of some kind that Smith has issued since the 2022 Oscars incident, in which the best actor winner took the stage at the Dolby Theater and slapped comedian Rock after he made an off-script joke about Pinkett’s baldness Smith while presenting the award for best documentary.
Smith gave a tearful statement on the night while accepting his best actor win for his role as Richard Williams, father of Aphrodite and Serena Williams, in King Richard — though he didn’t mention Rock. He then released a statement on social media apologizing to Rock, while also acknowledging how the joke caused his behavior.
“Jokes against me are part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me and I reacted emotionally,” she wrote in the post. “I’d like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I made a mistake. I am ashamed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”
Smith has since announced his resignation from the Academy and has been banned from appearing at Academy events for 10 years. However, he is still eligible for future Oscar nominations and wins and will retain the Oscar he won at the 2022 ceremony.
Several of Smith’s upcoming projects are seemingly in limbo. Fast and Loose, which centers on a crime boss who loses his memory, previously lost its director in the wake of the Oscars incident, but according to sources, Netflix has quietly shelved it. Sony’s Bad Boys 4 , also in active development during Oscar season, has also been shelved, a source told The Hollywood Reporter.
Smith is also slated to star in the action thriller Emancipation, directed by Antoine Fuqua. Based on a true story, the film follows an enslaved man who escapes from a Louisiana plantation before heading north to join the Union Army. It’s in post-production at Apple, but currently has no release date, although it was previously tentatively slated for the end of the year.
Sources at the time described Smith’s performance as another award-worthy performance, but the Oscar incident is believed to have derailed those release plans, with it unclear whether Smith would be welcomed back. Last week, however, online reports suggested that Apple could indeed release the film sometime in 2022.
Borys Kit contributed to this story.
