Will Smith was regrettably the biggest story of the Academy Awards back in March after full-on slapping Chris Rock across the face for making a lewd joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, which resulted in Smith's resignation from the Academy.
What Happened: On Friday, Smith finally broke the silence, taking to Instagram to address the slap.
“I'm here whenever you're ready to talk,” Smith said to Rock through the camera. “I've reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he's not ready to talk, and when he is he will reach out — so I will say to you, Chris, I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable,” Smith said, looking dull-eyed at the camera.
Read also: Jada Pinkett Smith Speaks Out On Will Smith's Chris Rock Slap For First Time: Here's What She Said
Smith explained why he didn’t apologize to Rock during his Oscars-winning speech for Best Actor. “I was fogged out by that point. It’s all fuzzy."
He then apologized to Rock’s mother, saying, "I wasn't thinking, but how many people got hurt in that moment — so I want to apologize to Chris's mother; I want to apologize to Chris's family, specifically Tony Rock [younger sibling]. We had a great relationship. Tony Rock was my man. This is probably irreparable," Smith said.
The actor then addressed his fans, and whoever else would watch the public apology: “there’s no part of me that thinks that’s the optimal way to handle a feeling of disrespect or insults.”
He cleared the air about the rumors that Pinkett Smith asked him to respond to Rock’s joke.
“It’s like, you know, I made a choice on my own, from my own experiences, from my history with Chris, Jada had nothing to do with it. I’m sorry, babe. I want to say sorry to my kids and my family for the heat that I brought on all of us.”
Smith resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that oversees the Oscars, following the slap, and he provided messages of regret after the Academy elected to suspend him for 10 years.
Rock broke his silence at a stand-up comedy show in New Jersey on July 24, saying, “Yeah, that sh-t hurt, motherf—r. But I shook that sh-t off and went to work the next day … I don’t go to the hospital for a papercut.”
Benzinga’s Take: Smith is one of the world’s most-known actors. In the wake of the slap, a number of movies that Smith was working on with Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) were reported to have been put on the back burner.
One of his best-selling movie franchises, “Bad Boys,” was to have a fourth installment following the success of “Bad Boys 3”; it too was put on hold following the ceremony. Smith had to apologize in order to save his otherwise glittering Hollywood career.
Photo via Shutterstock.
