‘Bad Boys’ director Michael Bay on Will Smith slap

Director Michael Bay, who worked with Will Smith on the first two Bad Boys films, talked to Yahoo Entertainment about Smith slapping comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars.

Video Transcript

CHRIS ROCK: Uh-oh. Richard-- Oh, wow. Wow. Will Smith just smacked the [BLEEP] out of me. KEVIN POLOWY: I don't know if you want to talk about this. But it's my job to ask. Having made two movies with Will Smith for "Bad Boys," what was your response to that incident? Were you watching? MICHAEL BAY: I wasn't. I saw it. Everyone was texting me, did you see it? Did you see it? Did you see it? First of all, it's wrong to begin with. OK. But that's all people are talking about. And I don't really care. Hollywood gets very self-absorbed. There are babies getting blown up in the Ukraine right now. We should be talking about that. KEVIN POLOWY: It's a great point. MICHAEL BAY: So I really don't care. KEVIN POLOWY: Yeah, yeah. MICHAEL BAY: It wasn't right. KEVIN POLOWY: I mean, I think people were so shocked because it felt so uncharacteristic. MICHAEL BAY: I've worked with him. He is not that guy. I've never seen him lose his cool like that. I thought it was set up because I saw the smirk. I've been on set when Will screws with people, joking with people. Listen, it was a slap. It wasn't a punch. He's very good at fighting, all right? He's trained at that. So-- KEVIN POLOWY: Yeah, played Ali. MICHAEL BAY: --the slap would sting. But it's wrong to begin with. And then, I knew the was right. He was mad.