Disgraced Hollywood actor Will Smith has finally apologised to comedian Chris Rock for physically assaulting him in front of millions of perplexed viewers at the Academy Awards ceremony in March of this year.
The The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star shamefully slapped Rock after the comedian made a G.I. Jane joke, insinuating that Smith’s wife Jada would be an adequate candidate to star in the movie due to her shaved head.
What the comedian didn’t know at the time was that Smith’s wife shaves her head because she suffers from alopecia, which is an autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss and affects millions of people, and this ended up upsetting Smith; even though he initially laughed at the comedian’s joke.
In a fairly belated post shared to social media, Smith not only addressed his altercation between the former SNL comedian, but also apologized to him and claimed he had reached out to Rock to talk about the shameful event. The actor prefaced his unbearably victimized apology by letting out a contrived sigh, as he then addressed the situation upfront.
“Why didn’t you apologize to Chris in your [Academy Award] acceptance speech?” Smith said as if reading some unknown individual’s question about the infamous physical assault at the Oscars. “I was fogged out by that point,” the actor claimed.
He elaborated, “It’s all fuzzy. I’ve 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. So I will say to you, Chris, I apologise to you,” the Suicide Squad actor declared, adding, “My behavior was unacceptable and I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.”
Smith then went on to issue an apology to Chris Rock’s mother, recalling that he “saw an interview that Chris’s mother did and, you know, that was one of the things about that moment I just didn’t realize and, you know, I wasn’t thinking about how many people got hurt in that moment.”
“So I want to apologize to Chris’s mother. I want to apologize to Chris’s family; specifically [Chris Rock’s brother] Tony Rock,” Smith further declared. “You know, we had a great relationship. You know, Tony Rock was my man. And this is probably irreparable.”
Playing the victim card once more, Smith admitted, “I spent the last three months replaying and understanding the nuances and the complexities of what happened in that moment. And 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,” he claimed. “There’s no part of me that thinks that’s the optimal way to handle a feeling of disrespect or insults.”
He then addressed the question many have asked themselves following the altercation. “After Jada rolled her eyes, did she tell you to do something?” Smith responded to it with a definitive “No,” adding, “It’s like, you know, I made a choice on my own, from my own experiences, from my history with Chris… Jada had nothing to do with it.”
“I’m sorry, babe,” Smith said to his wife Jada, later addressing his own family and Oscar nominees, even. “I want to say sorry to my kids and my family for the heat that I brought on all of us. To all my fellow nominees, you know, this is a community.”
Without an ounce of self-reflection, the woke actor chooses to play the victim card again, shamelessly stating, “It’s like, I won because you voted for me, and it really breaks my heart to have stolen and tarnished your moment.”
“I can still see Questlove’s eyes, you know, it happened on Questlove’s award. And, you know, it’s like, ‘I’m sorry’ really isn’t sufficient.” Regarding what the actor would say to the people who were disappointed in him following his embarrassing moment at the Oscars, after physically assaulting a fellow actor, Smith said, “So there’s two things. One, disappointing people is my central trauma. I hate when I let people down. So, it hurts.”
“It hurts me psychologically and emotionally to know I didn’t live up to people’s image and impression of me,” Smith admitted. “And the work I’m trying to do is… I am deeply remorseful and I’m trying to be remorseful without being ashamed of myself,” said the disgraced actor.
He explained, “I’m human and I made a mistake, and I’m trying not to think of myself as a piece of s—t. So I would say to those people I know it was confusing. I know it was shocking. But I promise you I am deeply devoted and committed to putting light and love, and joy into the world. And, if you hang on, I promise we’ll be able to be friends again,” Smith concluded his apology video.
Unsurprisingly, Chris Rock didn’t think much of Will Smith’s apology. During a stand-up show on Friday, the comedian addressed the apology, heavily implying that the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was playing the victim card all along.
“Everybody is trying to be a f—king victim,” Rock asserted. “If everybody claims to be a victim, then nobody will hear the real victims.” He then added, “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.”
Immediately after the shameful display at the Oscars, Rock reportedly said he would not be pressing charges against Smith. This information was first reported by The Guardian senior editor Lois Beckett, and later confirmed by both the Los Angeles Police Department and the Oscars producer Will Packer.
“LAPD investigative entities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program. The incident involved one individual slapping another. The individual involved has declined to file a police report,” wrote Beckett at the time.
She added, “If the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report.”
Similarly, the Oscars producer declared, “They were saying, you know, this is battery, was a word they used in that moment. [LAPD] said, ‘We will go get him. We are prepared. We’re prepared to get him right now. You can press charges, we can arrest him.”
“They were laying out the options. And as they were talking, Chris was — he was being very dismissive of those options. He was like, ‘No, no, no, I’m fine.’ And even to the point where I said, ‘Rock, let them finish.’ The LAPD officers finished laying out what his options were and they said, ‘Would you like us to take any action?’ And he said no. He said no,” Packer concluded.
Rock himself would go on to address the controversy during a stand-up comedy show, fervently declaring that he was still processing what had happened and wasn’t ready to talk about the incident but reassured fans that “at some point I’ll talk about that s—t. And it will be serious and funny.”
