Hours after Will Smith posted a video apologizing about his actions towards Chris Rock at the Oscars months ago, the comedian had made a comment insinuating Will was nothing but a whiner.
At the Oscars award show, which happened in March, the comedian, while on stage, cracked a joke about Will’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s hairstyle. Angrily, the movie star walked up to the stage and slapped the comedian across the face, yelling, “keep my wife’s name outta your f***ing mouth,” to everyone’s surprise.
This out-of-the-spur action has affected the movie star since then, as he lost many movie roles and collaborations worth millions of dollars. In addition, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also issued a 10-year ban on Smith the next month, preventing him from attending the annual awards show in person or virtually.
“I spent the last three months replaying and understanding the nuances and the complexities of what happened at that moment, and I’m not going to try to unpack all of that right now. 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,” Will said in the video he posted on Friday.
Will Smith issues an apology to Chris Rock and his family
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) July 29, 2022
He went on “to apologize to Chris’s mother. I 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.”
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Though Chris did not directly address Will’s apology, his feelings about the video were quite evident as he passed along a pointed message about how “everybody is trying to be a fucking victim.” In reaction to this video, Chris had commented during a show at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta that he was only playing the victim card. He added that nobody would hear the real victims if everybody claimed to be a victim.
Until Chris Rock pulls up a seat at the Red Table, his stand-up shows are how he’s responding to being slapped at the Oscars — and presumably Will Smith’s latest apology. https://t.co/T3NIABVaYw
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) July 31, 2022
Seemingly unforgiving, he added: “Even me getting smacked by Suge Smith, ” he joked, referencing Marion “Suge” Knight, the Death Row Records co-founder currently serving a 28-year sentence for killing a man. Knowing Rock, he did not need more direct words to have referred to his former friend, Will Smith as an unsuccessful fake gangster who is trying to change his cards to that of a victim for better PR.
“I went to work the next day, I got kids.” “Anyone who says words hurt has never been punched in the face,” he continued, making the same remark about “cancel culture” he has shared at past shows.
Since the Oscars, until Will Smith shared his 6-minute apology video, Chris Rock has cut off all communications with the movie star and is not ready to accept Will’s apology. The most Chris has done regarding this event has been to make jokes out of it and make snide remarks.
Considering Chris’s reaction to Will’s apology video, a quick comeback for the actor and a rekindled friendship between the two men are almost impossible.