The Academy Awards are one of the highest and most respected film honours in the world and there is a lot of credibility and authenticity that comes with it. This year’s ceremony had many firsts and memorable moments, however, it came to be known for one of its not-so-great moments as the Best Actor winner that night, Will Smith, went on stage to slap the host Chris Rock for making a joke on his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. Soon after, Will was shunned by the Academy from attending any of its events for the next decade and there was a lot of hullabaloo around the incident. Will Smith then went out to issue a public apology through a video on his social media and now, Chris Rock has finally reacted to it.
Comedians Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle recently performed at London’s O2 Arena and its there that the former addressed the slap incident. According to Deadline, when he took the stage, in a part of his lengthy set, the comedian spoke about the incident and its affect on him. He said, “Yes that sh*t hurt. He played Ali. I can’t even play Floyd Mayweather.”
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For the first time, reacting to Smith’s apology video on YouTube, Rock responded saying, ““f*ck your hostage video.” Rock even referred to Will Smith as ‘Suge Smith’, in reference to the former Death Row Records music executive Suge Knight, who is currently serving a 28-year jail sentence for voluntary manslaughter. Even Chapelle took a dig at Smith as he said the actor “did an impression of a perfect man for 30 years… I just hope he doesn’t put that mask back on.”
Check out Smith’s apology here:
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For the unversed, during this year’s Oscars ceremony, Chris Rock had made a joke on Jada’s shaved head saying, “Jada, can’t wait for GI Jane 2,” referring to Demi Moore’s 1997 film GI Jane in which the actress’ character shaved her head. Jada suffers from alopecia which causes hair loss, and she had opened up about it on her talk show a few years ago. After the joke, Smith headed up to the stage and hit Rock in the face, yelling, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth.”
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After the incident became a public topic of discussion, Smith had issued an apology video saying he had to do it this way as he had reached out to Rock but he wasn’t yet ready to talk to him. In the video, the Oscar winner had said, “I will say to you, Chris, I apologise to you. My behavior was unacceptable and I am here whenever you are ready to talk.”
Also Read: Will Smith apologises again to Chris Rock for Oscars slap incident – WATCH