Will Smith strikes Chris Rock in an astonishing moment at the Oscars
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Downing Street has given its take on Oscar winner Will Smith slapping host Chris Rock at the presentation ceremony.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said he had not spoken to Boris Johnson about the matter as the PM had been “speaking to leaders on Ukraine”, but added: “On this, I think the Education Secretary was entirely right this morning - obviously striking someone is never the answer.”
Earlier, Nadhim Zahawi told LBC: “Violence is never the answer to any problem-solving, as Will Smith admitted himself in that tearful, heart-wrenching apology.”
Comedian Rock, who was presenting an award, made an on-stage joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair loss, which is due to alopecia, saying “Jada, can’t wait for GI Jane 2.”
Smith walked up on stage and struck Rock before returning to his seat and shouting: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth.”
He later apologised in a tearful best actor acceptance speech, declaring: “Love will make you do crazy things”.
The actor also revealed what Denzel Washington said to him after the incident at the star studded ceremony in LA: “At your highest, that’s when the devil comes for you.”
“I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people,” Smith said. “I know, to do what we do, we’ve gotta be able to take abuse.
“You’ve gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you’ve gotta be able to have people disrespecting you. You’ve gotta smile and pretend that that’s okay.”
But director Judd Apatow called the incident “pure out of control rage and violence” on Twitter.
“He could have killed him. That’s pure out of control rage and violence. They’ve heard a million jokes about them in the last three decades. They are not freshman in the world of Hollywood and comedy. He lost his mind,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Seems like Will Smith’s plan to get comedian and the world to not make jokes about him is not going to pan out. The Williams family must be furious. Pure narcissism,” he added.
“Also — GI Jane was gorgeous. What exactly is insulting about being compared to a ripped, stunning Demi?’ he wrote, referencing the Ridley Scott–directed Demi Moore–starring film.
