In a video posted on-line Friday, Oscar-winning actor Will Smith — making his most intensive public feedback since he slapped Chris Rock on the Academy Awards in March — apologized straight to the comic and mentioned he was “deeply remorseful” over his conduct.
In a virtually six-minute video uploaded to Instagram and YouTube, Smith mentioned he didn’t initially apologize to Rock in his Oscars acceptance speech as a result of he was “fogged out.” But he mentioned he has “reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he’s not ready to talk and, when he is, he will reach out.”
“I will say to you, Chris, I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable and I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk,” Smith mentioned.
He then prolonged his apologies to Rock’s mother, Rose, and his youthful brother, Tony.
In an interview with NBC affiliate station WIS of Columbia, South Carolina, in April, Rose Rock appeared to blast Smith, saying in half: “When he slapped Chris, he slapped all of us.”
Tony Rock starred in the 2007 UPN sitcom “All of Us,” which was co-created by Smith. “We had a great relationship,” Smith said in the video. “Tony Rock was my man and this is probably irreparable.”
Smith previously apologized to Rock in a written statement days after the 94th Academy Awards ceremony, saying in part that he was “out of line” and “embarrassed.”
Smith slapped Rock across the face after the comedian made a joke about the actor’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Rock, presenting the Oscar for best documentary feature, had said he was excited to watch Pinkett Smith in “G.I. Jane 2.”
In 2018, Pinkett Smith revealed she was diagnosed with alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss. Ridley Scott’s action film “G.I. Jane” (1997) starred Demi Moore as a girl who joins the Navy and shaves her head throughout her army service.
Smith then marched on to the stage at the Dolby Theatre and hit Rock. The sound then cut out on the U.S. broadcast, but Smith appeared to be shouting the words: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f—— mouth!”
The actor later accepted the best actor award for his performance in “King Richard,” a portrait of Serena and Venus Williams’ hard-charging father.
“I’ve spent the final three months replaying and understanding the nuances and the complexities of what occurred in that second,” Smith said in the video. “I’m not going to strive to unpack all of that proper now, however I can say to all of you that there isn’t a a part of me that thinks that was the suitable means to behave in that second.
“There is no part of me that thinks that was the optimal way to handle feelings of disrespect or insults,” Smith mentioned.
“I am deeply devoted and committed to putting light and joy into the world,” he later added.
The actor mentioned he was sorry to his household for “the heat that I brought on all of us” following the slap. He mentioned it “really breaks my heart to have tarnished and stolen” the limelight from his fellow Oscar nominees — together with the musician and filmmaker Questlove, who gained the very best documentary Oscar for “Summer of Soul.”
In early April, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences introduced it could bar Smith from attending the Oscars for 10 years due to the slap.
By the time of that announcement, although, Smith had already resigned from the group — a transfer that prevented the academy from suspending or expelling him.
Smith’s outburst surprised the viewers in the Dolby Theatre and around the globe and set off a frenzy of dialog on social media that lasted for weeks, inspiring heated debates about poisonous masculinity and different hot-button themes.
Rock stored his composure after he was slapped, joking that it was the “greatest night in the history of television.” He declined to press prices, the Los Angeles Police Department mentioned.
The comedian has since addressed the incident in a stand-up efficiency, insisting that he was not a “victim” and quipping: “I don’t go to the hospital for a papercut.” Rock’s consultant didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Friday.
