Eight months later Will Smith beaten Chris Rock Onstage at the Academy Awards was his first post-scandal talk show appearance The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on November 28th. Of course, Will spoke about the situation while also promoting his new film. emancipation. “It was a horrible night, as you can imagine,” Will confirmed. “There’s a lot of nuance and complexity, you know, but at the end of the day, I just lost it. I guess what I would say is you never know what someone is going through. You just don’t know what’s going on with people. And I went through something that night. Not that that justifies my behavior, but you’re asking what I’ve learned, which is that we just have to be nice to each other, man.”
Will’s smack at Chris was sparked by a joke the comedian made while on stage at the Oscars. The joke was at Will’s wife’s expense, Jada Pinkett-Smithas he said, “Jada, can’t wait GI Jane 2.” The reference was due to Jada’s shaved head, which is a result of her alopecia (hair loss) diagnosis. Will flew out of his seat and punched Chris in the face while yelling, “Keep my wife’s name out of your friggin’ mouth!”
In his interview with Trevor NoahWill said that the moment that led him to slap Chris in the face “a lot of things just bubbled up”. “That’s not who I want to be,” he confirmed, later adding, “That was an anger that’s been bottled up for a really long time.” He also started crying as he remembered going home had come to his nine-year-old nephew, who was waiting for him after the award ceremony.
“He’s the cutest little boy,” Will gushed. “We got home and he had stayed up late to see his Uncle Will and we’re sitting in my kitchen and he’s stopping [my] Oscar and he’s like, ‘Why did you hit that man, Uncle Will?’ It was a disaster. I don’t want to go into too much detail to give people more understanding, but…” Will has stayed out of the spotlight in the months since the incident, saying that during that time he’s been working to “forgive [himself] for being human.”
The day after the Oscars, Will wrote a public apology to Chris Instagram Post. As a result of his actions, he eventually resigned from the academy and was banned from the Oscars for ten years as punishment. It wasn’t until the end of July 2022 that Chris spoke publicly about the situation. He apologized to Chris again but revealed the comedian wasn’t ready to speak one on one at the time. It is unclear if they have spoken to each other since then.
