On Friday, disgraced actor Will Smith posted a video apology to Chris Rock for striking him during the Oscars, calling his own behavior unacceptable.
Smith posted his video apology on his YouTube channel addressing his controversial slap of comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars on March 27. In the nearly six-minute video, Smith expresses his intense remorse for the incident and apologizes to several key figures who he says were hurt by his actions.
The incident has caused the disgraced actor his place atop Tinseltown.
“It’s been a minute …,” text on the video begins. “Over the last few months, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and personal work.”
The incident occurred when Rock made a joke during the broadcast at the expense of Smith’s wife, fellow actor Jada Pinkett-Smith. Smith interpreted the joke to be a reference to his wife’s struggles with alopecia, and suddenly arose from his seat, walked onstage, and hit Rock in the face, causing confusion and overshadowing many of the events of the night, including his own Oscar win for Best Actor for his performance in King Richard.
In a scripted speech, Smith then reads and answers questions about the shocking incident.
“Why didn’t you apologize to Chris in your acceptance speech?” Smith begins, reading a question.
“I was fogged out by that point,” he says. “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.”
Smith also apologized to Rock’s family and especially his mother, Rosalie, who was horrified to see her son hurt and told US Weekly that, “When he slapped Chris, he slapped all of us. He really slapped me.” Smith also apologized to Tony Rock, Chris’ younger brother.
“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 younger brother] Tony Rock. You know, we had a great relationship. You know, Tony Rock was my man. And this is probably irreparable.”
“No. I made a choice on my own, from my own experiences, and my history with Chris. Jada had nothing to do with it. I’m sorry, babe, and I want to say sorry to my kids and my family for the heat that I brought on all of us.”
From The Daily Wire:
Smith has apologized before, including shortly after the incident. Smith slapped Rock in the face after the comedian mocked Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head amid her hair loss battle. A stunned Rock absorbed the slap and carried on.
“Will Smith just slapped the s*** out of me,” he said as the actor returned to his seat and yelled for Rock to “keep my wife’s name outta your mouth.” Smith was not removed from the building, and a short time later, took the stage to accept his first Oscar ever — Best Actor for his role in the film “King Richard.”
Later, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued a 10-year ban preventing the actor from attending the annual awards show.
“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,” Smith says in the new video. “But I can say to all of you now there is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment.”
Watch the full video of Will Smith’s apology here: Will Smith/Youtube
Source: TheDailyWire
