Will Smith has apologized to Chris Rock for slapping him during the Oscars telecast, saying his behavior was “unacceptable” and that he had contacted the comedian to discuss the incident, but he was told that Rock was not ready.
Key points:
- Will Smith says he is deeply remorseful for both Chris Rock and his family
- The six-minute YouTube video is “over-rehearsed,” says a PR expert
- Smith slapped Rock after the comedian made a joke about Will’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head.
“There’s no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave at that time,” Smith said in the nearly six-minute video, which was posted online on Friday (US time).
“I am deeply sorry and I am trying to be remorseful without being ashamed of myself.”
To Rock, he said, “I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.”
In the video, Smith spoke directly to a camera, answering pre-screened questions about his behavior at the March 27 Academy Awards, when he slapped host Rock after the comedian made a reference to Jada Pinkett’s hairstyle Smith, Smith’s wife.
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Smith also apologized to Rock’s family and especially to his mother, Rosalie, who was horrified to see her son injured.
She told US Weekly: “When she slapped Chris, she slapped all of us. She really slapped me.”
Smith also apologized to Tony Rock, Chris’ younger brother.
“I didn’t realize how many people were hurt at the time,” Smith said.
Will Smith cries as he accepts the Oscar for Best Actor. (Reuters: Brian Snyder)
Neither the apology nor the timing impressed the crisis and public relations expert Eric Schiffer, who called it “strange, odd and over-rehearsed”.
“It felt like he was doing a confessional in a locked room in a foreign country to escape the regime,” said Schiffer, president and CEO of Patriarch Equity and president of Reputation Management Consultants.
“It’s just not the way to get out of the cesspool that he got himself into because, once again, it became about him and it’s still about him.”
In the video, Smith also apologized to his family “for the heat he caused us all” and to his fellow Oscar nominees for “stealing and interrupting your moment.”
He mentioned Questlove by name; it was the musician-director’s documentary victory for Summer of Soul (… Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) that was interrupted by the slap.
Rock took the stage to present the documentary award.
Smith also said his wife did nothing to encourage his slapping.
“I had nothing to do with it anymore,” he said.
“I chose on my own.”
Pinkett Smith has said she has alopecia areata, a hair loss disease.
Jada Pinkett Smith dedicated an episode of Red Table Talk to alopecia areata. (AP: Jordan Fisher/Red Table Talk)
After the altercation, the motion picture academy banned Smith from attending the Oscars or any other academy event for 10 years.
Smith apologized to Rock in a statement after the Oscars, saying “I was out of line and I made a mistake.”
“I’m sorry it’s not really enough,” Smith said in the video, adding that he’s hurt because he hasn’t lived up to the fans’ impressions.
“Disappointing people is my central trauma.”
AP