WILL SMITH HAS said he is “deeply remorseful” three months after slapping Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars.
The actor has uploaded a near six-minute video to Instagram and YouTube, titled “It’s been a minute…”, in which he apologises to Rock and his family, as well as his own family.
He spoke directly to the camera and answered a series of questions.
“So I will say to you, Chris: I apologise to you. My behaviour was unacceptable and I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.”
Smith walked up to the stage as Rock was presenting the Best Documentary Feature award and slapped him for making a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and her hair loss.
Shortly after, Smith won Best Actor for his performance as the father of Venus and Serena Williams in sports drama King Richard.
Smith said in the video that he did not apologise to Rock on the night because he was “fogged out”.
He also said that his wife did not tell him to “do something” in response to Rock’s comments: “I made a choice, on my own, from my own experiences, from my history with Chris. Jada had nothing to do with it.
“I’m sorry, babe,” he added, addressing his wife. “I wanna say sorry to my kids and my family for the heat that I brought on all of us.”
After the incident, Smith apologised publicly to Rock and pre-emptively resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which runs the Oscars, after he was told he would likely be expelled.
He was later banned from attending the Oscars for 10 years.
“I spent the last three months replaying and understanding the nuances and the complexities of what happened in that moment.
“I’m not going to try to unpack all of that right now, but I can say to all of you: there is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment.”
The actor also said he was sorry to other Oscar winners who were overshadowed by the incident, including The Roots frontman Questlove.
“I can still see Questlove’s eyes – it happened on Questlove’s award – and I am sorry isn’t really sufficient.”
“‘I’m sorry’ really isn’t sufficient … disappointing people is my central trauma.
“I’m human, I made a mistake. I’m trying not to think of myself as a piece of s**t.”
Concluding the video, Smith said he was “deeply remorseful and I’m trying to be remorseful without being ashamed of myself”.
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