Chris Rock’s mum weighs in on Will Smith’s Oscar slap: ‘He really slapped me…’
The controversy that sprang up on that fateful evening when actor Will Smith approached the stage and whacked comedian, presenter Chris Rock across the face refuses to die down. Even as the Academy has banned Smith for 10 years, many are of the opinion that that is not enough, many others think Smith is being punished but alleged serial sexual abusers like Louis CK are back in the game and are even being awarded.
Latest notable to weigh in on the debate is Rock’s mother Rose Rock. While speaking to WIS, she said her son is still processing the incident. She said that when Smith slapped Chris, “he slapped all of us, but he really slapped me. When you hurt my child, you hurt me.”
During the Oscars 2022 ceremony, Chris Rock had made a joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith, specifically her baldness that is caused a condition called alopecia. In the joke, Rock said while referring to Jada, “G.I. Jane 2. Can’t wait to see it.”
1997’s G.I. Jane, a war drama, had Demi Moore playing the role of the (fictional) first female Navy Seal who shaved her head. While Smith looked like he was also amused the joke, moments later he was on the stage and attacked Rock before millions watching the live broadcast around the world.
When Rose was asked what she would say to Smith if she met him, she said, “I have no idea what I would say other than, ‘What in the world were you thinking?’ Because you did a slap, but so many things could have happened. Chris could have stepped back and fallen. You really could have gotten taken out in handcuffs. You didn’t think. You reacted to your wife giving you the side-eye, and you went up, and you made her day because she was bowled over laughing when it happened.”
She also said she was not impressed with the 10-year ban as “you don’t even go every year.”
Not long after the slap, Smith was awarded an Oscar in the Best Actor category for his performance in King Richard. He apologised later for his behaviour towards Rock through a social media statement.
Smith was recently on a secretive India trip, and was clicked photographers as he was leaving the country through a terminal at Mumbai’s Kalina Airport.
