OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.
“When he slapped Chris, he slapped all of us. He really slapped me,” Chris Rock’s mom, Rose, said about the incident with Will Smith at the Oscars last month.
Actor Will Smith notoriously slapped Rock at the Academy Awards after the comedian cracked a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head, referring to the 1997 film “G.I. Jane.”
Rock’s mom Rose is speaking out. “You reacted to your wife giving you the side-eye, and you went and made her day because she was mulled over laughing when it happened,” Rose said.
Rose added that, like many, she was watching the Oscars at home and initially thought the moment was staged.T
However, when Smith began to use “obscenities,” she knew it was real.
“No one even heard his speech,” Rose said. “No one was able to just be in the moment because everyone was sitting there like, ‘What just happened?’”
“If Chris Rock had hit Will Smith back, we all would have said Chris Rock is a bad person right?” one viewer tweeted. “Firstly, we all need to applaud his professionalism for not hitting Will Smith back. The words Will Smith said at the end could have been said instead of slapping him and he’d stop.”
More on this story via Fox News:
Rose went on to share that she reached out to her son and let him know how proud of him she was for his reaction. Rose’s sentiment is one that was shared by many viewers. As the moment went viral, many took to social media and commended Rock for not escalating the confrontation.
Earlier this month, the academy announced that Smith was banned from attending the Oscars or any other academy event for 10 years following his slap of presenter Rock at this year’s ceremony. The decision came after a meeting of the academy’s board of governors to discuss a response to Smith’s actions.
“I accept and respect the academy’s decision,” the actor said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital at the time. Smith, who won the Oscar for best actor, also previously resigned from the academy and publicly apologized.
On the academy’s decision, Rose told the outlet, “I wouldn’t take his award away, and I don’t see any good way they could have taken him out without disrupting.”
As for Smith’s public apology, Rose says she feels that the actor should reach out to her son.
“I feel really bad that he never apologized,” Rose said. “I mean his people wrote up a piece saying, ‘I apologize to Chris Rock,’ but you see something like that is personal, you reach out.”
At the time, Smith apologized on social media to Rock.
“Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive,” Smith wrote in part on Instagram before publicly apologizing to Rock. “I was out of line and I was wrong.”
Since the incident, Smith has recently resurfaced. He was spotted in Mumbai, India, smiling and posing for photos with adoring fans.
He also waved to nearby onlookers shouting “Will! Will!”
