Will Smith released a five-minute video where he apologized to Chris Rock and absolved Jada Pinkett of any wrongdoing for him slapping Chris Rock at the OSCARS.
It seemed more like a hostage video, but he was able to speak in his own scripted words.
Four months after he cuffed Chris Rock on the Oscars stage, over a throwaway punchline about his wife, Will Smith has published a remorseful YouTube video in which he tries to explain an inexplicable confrontation.
Smith on Friday apologized — again — to Rock and Rock’s family, and specifically, the comedian’s younger brother, Tony Rock, who had lit into Smith in a standup appearance in April one week after the slapping incident. “This is probably irreparable,” Smith says, referring to his friendship with Tony Rock.
“There is no part of me that thinks that is the right way to behave in that moment,” Smith says in hindsight. Smith also apologized in an Instagram post on March 29, and resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences two days later.
In the six-minute video, Smith addresses several points spinning up in the aftermath of the March 27 incident, shortly after which he was awarded Best Actor for his performance in King Richard, a biopic about tennis superstars Venus Serena and Serena Williams in which he played their father, Richard Williams.
Smith says his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, did not direct him to confront Rock after the comedian made a joke about her hair loss. “After Jada rolled her eyes, did she tell you to do something? No,” Smith says. “I made a choice, on my own, from my own experiences, my history with Chris. Jada had nothing to do with it.”
Smith goes on to apologize to his wife, his family, and the other Academy Award nominees, but also acknowledges that “‘I’m sorry’ really isn’t sufficient.”
“I’m trying to be remorseful without being ashamed of myself,” Smith says later. “I’m human, and I made a mistake, and … I’m trying not to think of myself as a piece of sh*t.”
It appears Rock heard the apology and decided to speak on it during his comedy show.
Hours after Will Smith took to social media to apologize for slapping Chris Rock during the 2022 Oscars, the stand-up took to the stage to wax poetic over the moment, comparing Smith to former Death Row Records executive and currently incarcerated hot-head, Suge Knight.
“Everybody is trying to be a f—ing victim,” Rock, 57, said during a gig at Atlanta’s Fox Theater Friday night. “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.”
“Anyone who says words hurt has never been punched in the face,” Rock added, according to People.
Flip the page for Will Smith’s apology and Jada making Will look like a fool.
