It’s been Four months since the controversial “Slap” by Will Smith at the Oscar event.
Smith stunned fans around the globe when he smacked Rock during the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, Sunday night, after Chris Rock made a joke about his wife Jada- Pinkett’s battle with alopecia. The acclaimed actor walked onto the stage and slapped him.
A few months later, on Chris Rock’s most recent comedy special, the 57-year-old American stand-up comedian makes fun of the “slap heard around the world.”
At the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Rock said, “Everybody is trying to be a f—ing victim,”
Chris Rock sets record straight on Will Smith Oscars slap: ‘I’m not a victim’ https://t.co/95QKVkTaMc pic.twitter.com/vRxemqeR0x
— New York Post (@nypost) July 27, 2022
“If everybody claims to be a victim, then nobody will hear the real victims. Even me getting smacked by Suge Smith … I went to work the next day, I got kids.” This was because when Will Smith shared a 5-minute video where he apologizes again for slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars ceremony on Friday, July 29.
The comedian also joked at a recent stand-up show that he was “smacked by Suge Smith.” https://t.co/T3NIABDA6Y
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) July 31, 2022
And from then on, the American actor resigned from the academy, which banned him from the event for ten years. Smith apologized later to the comedian following the incident.
Today, Smith posted a new apology directly for Rock. The Oscar winner started off by saying that while he’d reached out to Chris, the comedian isn’t ready to talk to him and will reach out when he is. He also apologized to Chris’ mom and the rest of his family, specifically Tony Rock, with whom he had a great relationship prior to the incident.
He also said that he’s spent the last three months going over the moment and trying to figure out the nuances that caused it. “There’s no part of me that thinks that’s the optimal way to handle a feeling of disrespect or insults,” he said. He also apologized to his family and made it a point to say that Jada Pinkett-Smith did NOT have anything to do with the decision he made. He went on to apologize to his fellow nominees for taking the spotlight off what should have been the biggest night of their lives.
“I spent the last three months replaying and understanding the nuance and complexity of what happened in that moment. I’m not going to try to unpack all of that right now, but I can say to all of you, there is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment. No part of me that thinks that is the optimal way to handle a feeling of disrespect or insult,” he said.
Chris, however, for the most part, hasn’t directly responded to Will’s apology. “Anyone who says words hurt has never been punched in the face,” Rock quipped during the show, which is part of his Ego Death World Tour.
According to Variety, Rock has frequently addressed this issue, declaring “I’m not a victim” at a performance in New Jersey.“But I shook that s***t off and went to work the next day. I don’t go to the hospital for a paper cut,” he said.
I haven’t heard the whole context but taken in isolation, I think Chris Rock’s response to The Slap, ‘if everyone claims to be a victim, then no one will hear the real victims’, is a very moving and powerful statement
— Barney Norris (@barnontherun) July 30, 2022
Watch it here: Youtube/NBC News
Sources: Westernjournal, Deadline, Thehill
