Jada Pinkett Smith Says Chris Rock Told Her 'I Didn't Mean You Any Harm' After Oscars Incident (Exclusive)
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
"I said, 'I can't talk about this now, Chris. This is some old s---,' " Jada Pinkett Smith recalls to PEOPLE
Jada Pinkett Smith says Chris Rock tried to offer an apology directly after that controversial Oscars incident with Will Smith.
At the 2022 Academy Awards, Chris, 58, was presenting an award onstage when he made a joke about Jada’s shaved head. Will, 55, took issue with the comment and shouted at Chris from his seat before approaching the comedian and hitting him in the face during the live show.
During a wide-ranging interview with PEOPLE, Worthy author Jada, 52, revealed that in the moments after, when there was a pause in the broadcast, Chris approached her.
"Chris came down to the end of the stage and tried to apologize to me," she recalls. "He said, ‘I didn't mean you any harm.’ I said, ‘I can't talk about this now, Chris. This is some old s---.’ "
"I’ve got to leave that to Will and Chris to talk about, but they got their stuff for sure," adds Jada.
A rep for Chris did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
About the slap, Jada remembers being so caught off guard that she “thought it was a skit” at first.
"From where I was sitting I couldn't tell. It didn't look like Will hit Chris, because, number one, I'd seen Will in the boxing ring with pro fighters — Will's a heavy-hitter," she says.
Amy Sussman/Getty
Jada Pinkett Smith"So when Chris moved, it looked like he ducked or he missed the shot. And when he continued to stand, and then when he continued to walk down to the end of the stage, I was like, ‘There's no way. There's no way that Will hit him.’ ”
“It wasn't until Will started to walk back to his chair that I even realized it wasn't a skit," adds Jada. "I was in as much of a fog as anybody else in that room that night.”
Jada remembers trying to “keep myself grounded and settled for the people around us, and specifically for Will” in the immediate aftermath.
“I wasn't quite sure what was going on. I just knew, one thing I've realized in everything I've been through is stay calm, stay clear. Just so you can keep your awareness on what is happening around you.”
Responding to Chris' punchline about her shaved head, Jada, who lives with alopecia, tells PEOPLE: “I mean, that's what comedians do. I would just have to say that I am not really here to make any judgment on how people decide to express themselves and express their art. I'll say that several times I've had my feelings hurt, for sure. I've had my feelings hurt a lot by Chris. But at the end of the day, too, being in the spotlight, it comes with the territory.”
Related: Jada Pinkett Smith Reacts to Being Blamed for Oscars Slap: I Was Seen as an 'Adulteress' (Exclusive)
Will, who was banned from attending Academy events for 10 years, resigned from the Academy and has since apologized. Rock addressed the incident via his Netflix comedy special in March, saying, in part, “Everybody that really knows knows I had nothing to do with that s---.”
In her book Worthy, out Tuesday, Jada recounts that Oscars night, revealing that she and Will had been living "separate lives" for years, attending the ceremony "as family, not as husband and wife."
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
