Jada Pinkett Smith speaks out about Will Smith Oscars slap

Christopher Rosen
·5 min read
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Almost seventeen months after the infamous Oscars moment when Will Smith walked up to the stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock across the face on live television after Rock told a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair, Pinkett Smith has spoken out about the incident.

In an interview with People to promote her new memoir, “Worthy,” the actress said she thought the unbelievable moment was part of an elaborate pre-planned bit.

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“I thought, ‘This is a skit,’” Pinkett Smith said. “I was like, ‘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.” According to the actress, the first question she asked Will Smith after the Oscars had ended – and after Will Smith had won Best Actor for his performance in “King Richard” – was, “Are you okay?”

For many, the entire sequence of events is probably burned into memory. But for those who don’t remember many of the specifics, here’s a brief recap. Rock, a former Oscars host, appeared on stage to present Best Documentary and used his introduction time to crack a few jokes, including one about Pinkett Smith – who has alopecia – potentially starring in a sequel to “G.I. Jane” because her head was shaved. (Rock’s brother later said the comic wasn’t aware of Pinkett Smith’s condition.) In response to the jab, Will Smith shouted at Rock from the audience, saying in part that the comic should “keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth.” Will Smith then walked up to the stage and slapped Rock across the face. In response, Rock seemingly bit his tongue in terms of a response and the show went forward as planned. Will Smith later won Best Actor and received a partial standing ovation from the attendees. He later celebrated his long-awaited Academy Award win at the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

One day later, however, things quickly went south. Will Smith apologized for his behavior (he notably didn’t mention Rock or the slap during his Best Actor speech), and later resigned from the academy. The academy board of governors eventually suspended Will Smith from attending academy events for a period of 10 years (he is still eligible to receive a nomination, however). Will Smith apologized numerous times and has spoken about the incident in television interviews, most notably with Trevor Noah. 

Rock, meanwhile, spent a large portion of his recent Netflix special “Selective Outrage” talking about the Oscars slap and Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s marriage.

While promoting her memoir, Pinkett Smith revealed she and Will Smith separated seven years ago and have lived “completely separate lives.” The actress also told People that Rock allegedly asked her out once before, when reports that Will Smith and Pinkett Smith had split surfaced in the tabloids.

“I think every summer all the reports would come out that me and Will were getting a divorce. And this particular summer, Chris, he thought that we were getting a divorce. So he called me and basically he was like, ‘I’d love to take you out.’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He was like, ‘Well, aren’t you and Will getting a divorce?’ I was like, ‘No. Chris, those are just rumors.’ He was appalled. And he profusely apologized and that was that,” Pinkett Smith claimed in an interview with the legacy publication. (Rock did not comment, according to People.)

According to Pinkett Smith, Rock also allegedly apologized to her in the aftermath of the Oscars slap. “Chris came down to the end of the stage and tried to apologize to me. He said, ‘I didn’t mean you any harm.’ I said, ‘I can’t talk about this now, Chris. This is some old shit,’” she said, claiming she thought Rock was talking about their contentious public battles in 2016 over the Oscars when Rock was the host and Pinkett Smith organized a boycott due to the academy’s failure to nominate Black actors. “I thought this was [about] the Oscar 2016 and … their stuff that they had before I even came into the picture in the late ‘80s. I’ve got to leave that to Will and Chris to talk about, but they got their stuff for sure.”

This is the first time Pinkett Smith has spoken extensively about the Oscars slap. Previously, she posted a short and vague statement on Instagram about “healing” and also briefly discussed the incident on her Facebook show “Red Table Talk.”

“My deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out and reconcile,” Pinkett Smith said last year. “The state of the world today, we need them both. And we all actually need one another more than ever. Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years, and that’s keep figuring out this thing called life together. Thank you for listening.”

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