I’m sorry, Chris
After 4 months’ silence Smith makes grovelling apology for Oscars slap
WILL Smith yesterday made a hand-wringing video apology for slapping comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars.
It is the first time the actor, 53, has spoken publicly about the incident in the four months since it happened.
Smith said he was ‘deeply remorseful’ for storming on stage at the Oscar ceremony on March 28 and striking Rock, his friend at the time.
The show host, 57, had joked that Smith’s wife Jada, 50, looked like ‘ GI Jane’ because she was bald. She had recently revealed that she has alopecia.
Smith said in the grovelling six-minute video that he has spent ‘the last three months replaying and understanding the nuances and the complexities of what happened’.
He added: ‘No part of me thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment.’ He revealed that Rock was not talking to him.
‘I apologise to you… I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.’
He also apologised to fellow Oscar nominees, saying it ‘really breaks my heart to have stolen and tarnished your moment’. He finished: ‘I’m a human and I made a mistake and I’m trying not to think of myself as a piece of s***.’
The video also appeared to double up as a promotional plug for the Smith family. He was wearing a cap with the Westbrook Inc. logo – the entertainment company he founded with his wife and he was sat next to a bottle of Just Water, the eco-friendly brand founded by son Jaden.