Will Smith has revealed what Denzel Washington said to him immediately after he hit Chris Rock at the Oscars.
During the ceremony, Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, while he was presenting an award.
“Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see you,” Rock said, in seeming reference to Pinkett Smith’s shaved head. Last year, Pinkett Smith announced she had shaved her head after being diagnosed with alopecia.
Smith walked onto the stage and hit Rock, before returning to his seat and shouting: “Keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth,”
Immediately after, Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry could be seen speaking to Smith and, when Smith won Best Actor for King Richard 15 minutes later, he referenced a piece of advice Washington had just given him.
“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.
He then revealed what “Denzel said to me a few minutes ago”, adding Washington said: “‘In your highest moments, be careful, that’s when the devil comes for you’.”
The Independent has contacted Smith’s representatives for comment.
Earlier in the ceremony, Regina Hall – who is hosting the ceremony alongside Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes – poked fun at Smith and Pinkett Smith’s marriage. The couple could be seen laughing in response.
Following the incident, a joke Rock made about Pinkett Smith at the 2016 Oscars resurfaced online.
Elsewhere, Schumer drew gasps from the crowd following a joke she made about Leonardo DiCaprio and his “girlfriends”.
Find the full list of winners at the 2022 Oscars here.
