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After months of silence, Will Smith is back on social media.
Smith shared a video of himself addressing, you guessed it, the infamous slap that occurred the night of the Oscars. In the emotional video, which lasts almost 6 minutes, Smith answers some of the most common questions he’s received in the wake of the slap, and apologizes to a variety of people, among them, Chris Rock.
The video shows Smith addressing the camera directly and reading some of the most common questions that people have made following this year’s controversial Academy Awards. He starts off the clip with a heartfelt apology to Chris Rock, explaining that while he’s reached out to him personally, Rock let him know that he still wasn’t ready to talk. “So, I will say to you, Chris. I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable and I’m here whenever you need to talk.”
Smith also addressed others he’d hurt by slapping Rock, including Rock’s mother and his fellow nominees. “I want to apologize to Chris’s mother. I saw and interview that Chris’s mother did and, you know, that was one of the things about the moment I just didn’t realize,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking about how many people got hurt in that moment.”
When addressing his fellow nominees, Smith looked visibly emotional. “I won because you voted for me and it really breaks my heart to have stolen and tarnished your moment,” he said. He then mentioned Questlove, who won his first Academy Award minutes after Smith’s slap and who looked visibly uncomfortable and distracted on the stage. “I can still see Questlove’s eyes. I’m sorry really isn’t sufficient,” Smith said.
Smith also made it clear that the decision to slap Rock was his own and that his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, had nothing to do with it. “I made a choice on my own,” he said. “From my own experience, from my own history with Chris. Jada had nothing to do with it. I’m sorry, babe.”
The night of the Academy Awards, Will Smith went off script when Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith and her hairstyle. Pinkett Smith had discussed her ongoing issues with alopecia openly, and had mentioned how much the topic affected her and her self-esteem. Following Rock’s jokes, Smith walked onstage and slapped him, shocking guests and viewers all over the world. Afterwards, when he was awarded Best Actor, Smith gave a confusing speech about standing up for his family and defending the people he loved.