Although the 94th Academy Awards spotlighted movies like Dune, CODA and The Power of the Dog, this year’s most-talked about Oscars moment remains Will Smith coming on stage to slap Chris Rock. Earlier this week, Smith broke his silence about the Oscars slap incident, apologizing to both Rock and the SNL alum’s mother, as well as explained why he didn’t apologize to Rock during his Best Actor acceptance speech. Now Smith’s daughter, Willow Smith, has responded to what went down between her father and Rock.
Will Smith hit Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith being bald (which is a result of the actress having alopecia) during his presentation for Best Documentary Feature. A little over four months later, and just days after her dad’s public apology, Willow Smith informed Billboard that this incident didn’t affect her creativity or “rock me as much as my own internal demons.” As she explained:
I see my whole family as being human, and I love and accept them for all their humanness. Because of the position that we’re in, our humanness sometimes isn’t accepted, and we’re expected to act in a way that isn’t conducive to a healthy human life and isn’t conducive to being honest.
Like her brother Jaden, Willow Smith has been in the public spotlight for all her life, initially for simply being Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s daughter, but nowadays for her singing career and a handful of acting roles. As far as what her father did to Chris Rock goes, Willow made it clear that she understands Will Smith isn’t perfect, but still loves him in spite of his flaws and, in this instance, his less-than-stellar action. She also pointed out how because of the “position” she and the rest of her family are in (likely referring to their celebrity status), that means they’re put on a pedestal and are under more scrutiny to not make mistakes or show off flaws, which can be detrimental in the long run.
Several days after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, Willow Smith went on social media to tell her followers that “literally everyone” is “going through a lot right now,” and advised that people “just be kind.” This was believed to be a response to the incident, but now we have the above comment clearly laying out her thoughts about what happened. Willow’s statement follows two months after Jada Pinkett Smith opened an episode of Red Table Talk with a response to the slap, saying how she hoped that her husband and Rock had an opportunity to “an opportunity to heal, talk this out and reconcile.”
At the beginning of April, Will Smith resigned his membership from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and a week later, the organization banned Smith from attending the Oscars or any Academy-related event for the next 10 years. Regarding this week’s public apology, it was reported that Jada Pinkett Smith allegedly urged Will to say he was sorry to Chris Rock “because it has become this really dark cloud over her Red Table Talk series,” and that it would “be impossible for him to move forward successfully” if he didn’t address what happened. As for Rock, he indirectly responded to the apology through his comedy act, and an unnamed source has said that Rock has no interest in speaking with Smith, as he supposedly sees the apology as a way for the Men in Black star to seek forgiveness more from the public rather than the Everybody Hates Chris creator.
We’ll pass along any updates on Will Smith and Chris Rock’s situation if/when they come in, but until then, our 2022 release schedule is available for those looking to plan their moviegoing experiences for the rest of the year accordingly.