Actor Will Smith publicly reached out to comedian Chris Rock on camera for the first time since Smith slapped Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards.
Smith assaulted Rock on March 27 after a joke was made about the closely shaved head of Smith's wife, Jada, who has alopecia. At the time, Smith said the joke was "too much for me to bear" and that he "reacted emotionally."
Until now, Smith has not commented further, but on Friday he posted a video on YouTube apologizing to Rock, saying, "I'm here whenever you're ready to talk."
"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 said. "So 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 then apologized to Rock's mother, Rose Rock, who earlier this year opened up to WIS about the ordeal and how it impacted her family.
"[Will] started using obscenities," she said. "When he slapped Chris, he slapped all of us. He really slapped me."
Rose Rock added that she felt "bad" because she believed Will never truly apologized to her son.
"His people wrote up a piece saying I apologize to Chris Rock, but you see something like that is personal, you reach out," she said.
Smith said he saw Rose Rock's interview.
"That's one of the things about that moment I didn't realize, I wasn't thinking, but how many people got hurt in that moment," he said. "So I want to apologize to Chris's mother; I want to apologize to Chris's family. This is probably irreparable."
Smith, who resigned from the Academy and was banned from attending ceremonies for 10 years, offered a direct apology to Chris Rock.
"I was out of line, and I was wrong. I am embarrassed, and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness," Smith said in the video.
"I spent the last three months replaying and understanding the complexities and nuances of what happened. I'm not gonna try to unpack all of that right now, but I can say to you, there was no part of me that thought that was the right way to behave in that moment."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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