The 94th Academy Awards featured a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith and “The Slap” heard around the world. Pinkett Smith has remained quiet about the event until this week. Here’s what she had to say about the incident.
What Happened: Comedian Chris Rock made a joke about Pinkett Smith and her hair at the Academy Awards on March 27. The joke prompted Will Smith, husband to Pinkett Smith, to get up on stage and slap Rock.
The event was widely followed and prompted Smith to publicly apologize and he received a ban from the annual award show. The Academy Awards aired on ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS).
Speaking on Wednesday’s episode of “Red Table Talk,” Pinkett Smith said she hopes Rock and Smith can heal and “talk this out.”
“The state of the world today, we need ‘em both. And we 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,” Pinkett Smith said, according to Billboard.
While a portion of the show briefly discussed the event at the Academy Awards, the show was mainly meant to highlight her battle with alopecia and invite others to share the impact of the autoimmune disorder.
Smith told the audience that 147 million people live with the hair loss condition and discussed her own personal struggles as her mother Adrienne Banfield Norris and daughter Willow Smith, who co-hosts the show, shared the struggles she has faced.
One of the featured guests was the mother of a 12-year-old who took her own life after being bullied for her hair loss and wearing of a wig.
Another mother joined the panel to share how her daughter is fighting bullying at school.
Related Link: Is The Rock Replacing Johnny Depp In Pirates Of The Caribbean And Will Smith In Aladdin?
Why It’s Important: The conversation about alopecia could shed a light on Pinkett Smith’s side of the Academy Awards event and how the joke from Rock may have been insensitive to many who suffer from the hair loss issue.
“Red Table Talk” was created in 2018 and airs exclusively on Facebook Watch, a unit of Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB). The show features mother, daughter and grandmother as three generations of women sharing “candid conversations.”
The slap by Smith has led to him being dropped from some movies and seeing other projects he is attached to put on hold.
Photo: Tinseltown via Shutterstock
