Oscars: Will Smith apologizes to Chris Rock for slapping him

Culture Disagreement at award ceremony

Will Smith apologizes for slapping at Oscars

As of 3:13 a.m| Reading time: 2 minutes

Here Will Smith slaps Chris Rock on stage

Hollywood star Will Smith caused a shock moment at the Oscars. During the ceremony, he punches comedian Chris Rock in the face. He had previously insulted his wife. He still got an Oscar.

It was the scandal of the evening: At the Oscars, actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock. The Oscar Academy is launching a formal investigation. Now Smith apologized to Rock – via Instagram

Dhe US actor Will Smith apologized to comedian Chris Rock on Instagram after he was slapped at the Oscars. “I want to publicly apologize to you Chris,” he wrote on Monday. “I misbehaved and I was wrong. I’m embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.”

Smith hit Rock on stage on Sunday after the comedian previously insulted the actor’s wife with a joke. Shortly after the incident, Smith was awarded the Oscar for best actor in the movie King Richard.

In the acceptance speech, he tearfully apologized to the other nominees and the organizers of the event – but not to Rock personally. “Violence in all its forms is poisonous and destructive,” Smith said. “My behavior at the Oscars yesterday was unacceptable and inexcusable.”

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He continued, “Jokes at my expense are part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s health was too much for me and I reacted emotionally.” Rock had poked fun at Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair loss.

The Oscar Academy had previously condemned the assault on Chris Rock and launched an investigation. “The Academy condemns the actions of Mr. Smith at yesterday’s show,” the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences said Monday. “We have officially launched a formal investigation into the incident and will consider further steps and consequences (…).”

The internal rules of the organization, the code of conduct as well as Californian law would be observed. The previous evening, the academy had initially only generally stated in the short message service Twitter that it “does not tolerate any form of violence”.

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Immediately after the incident, many fans on social media and also observers in US media had wondered whether it was an actual outburst of anger by Will Smith or a prearranged scene. Smith’s acceptance speech, however, suggested that he had indeed briefly lost his temper.

After the end of the show, the US broadcaster ABC released a statement from the Los Angeles Police Department that said they were aware of an incident at the awards ceremony in which one person slapped another. The attacked refused to report the incident.