Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars was easily one of the biggest news stories of the year. It all started when Rock, who was hosting the event, joked about Smith’s wife’s baldness. This irked the ‘Bad Boys‘ actor who slapped and yelled at Rock that night.
Since then, the actor has been banned by the Academy for 10 years. The slap drew strong reactions but against and in support of the actor. Now, Richard Williams, whose role Smith played in ‘King Richard‘, has spoken in his support. So let’s find out the details of what he said.
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Richard Williams Defends Will Smith Over Oscar Slap
Will Smith shocked the entire world after she went on stage and slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards. Smith was banned from the Academy from attending its events for 10 years.
At the same event, he bagged the Best Actor award for portraying Serena Williams’ father Richard Williams in ‘King Richard.’ Now, the real Richard has spoken out in his support.
In an interview with iTV on Monday, Richard said: “I’ll always stand by him. I think he’s done the best that he needed to.” He further added, “I would never be disgusted with Mr. Smith. Matter of fact, I appreciate Mr. Smith.”
Richard also said that the Academy ban on the actor “definitely should be” lifted and it should have been “no more than a week.” Last year, he issued a statement right after the slap that he doesn’t “condone anyone hitting anyone else unless it’s in self-defense.”
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Serena Williams Talks About The Slap
Last month, the legendary tennis player Serena Williams spoke about the Oscar slap incident in an interview with Gayle King. She said that ‘Questlove’, the film which Rock was about to present, was overshadowed by the slap.
She said that she has also “been in a position where I’ve been under a lot of pressure and made a tremendous amount of mistakes, and I’m the kind of person that’s like, ‘I’ve been there. I’ve made a mistake.’”
Williams then indirectly defended the actor and said, “We’re all imperfect, and we’re all human, and let’s just be kind to each other. So, that’s often forgotten a lot.”
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