LOS ANGELES, United States — Actor
Will Smith offered apologies Monday to Chris Rock for smacking the comedian during the
Oscars ceremony, as the body that oversees the awards said it was launching a
formal review of the incident.
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Smith — who was named best actor on the night —
marched onto stage during the glitzy
Hollywood ceremony and hit Rock over a
joke about wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair.
“I would like to publicly apologize to you,
Chris. I
was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not
indicative of the man I want to be,” the “King Richard” star wrote on
Instagram.
“Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and
destructive. My behavior at last night’s
Academy Awards was unacceptable and
inexcusable,” Smith said.
“Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a
joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted
emotionally.”
Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia, a condition
that causes hair loss, and had a closely cropped head at Sunday’s ceremony.
The 94th Academy Awards was in its final hour when
actor and comedian Rock quipped that Pinkett Smith appeared ready to star in
“G.I. Jane 2” — a putative sequel to a film about a female soldier who has a
shaved head.
After at first appearing to laugh at the joke, Smith
walked onto the stage and smacked Rock with an open hand.
He then returned to his seat and shouted: “Keep my
wife’s name out of your fu**ing mouth.”
Smith tearfully apologized to his fellow nominees
and the Academy — but not Rock — a few minutes later as he accepted his
historic Oscar.
“Love will make you do crazy things,” he said.
On Monday, he repeated that apology.
“I would also like to apologize to the Academy, the
producers of the show, all the attendees, and everyone watching around the
world.”
“I would like to apologize to the Williams Family
and my King Richard Family. I deeply regret that my behavior has stained what
has been an otherwise gorgeous journey for all of us.”
“I am a work in progress.”
Smith’s mea culpa came hours after the Academy
condemned his behavior and said it was looking at possible sanctions.
“We have officially started a formal review around
the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance
with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct, and California law,” a statement said.
Celebrities from
Tinseltown and beyond reacted with
shock and stunned amazement to Smith’s outburst, with some defending him and
others condemning a display of “toxic masculinity”.
“He could have killed him. That’s pure out of
control rage and violence,” filmmaker Judd Apatow said in a tweet he later
deleted.
“Stand-up comics are very adept at handling
hecklers. Violent physical assault... not so much,” “Star Wars” icon Mark
Hamill chipped in.
‘Narcissistic madman’
The comedy world was quick
to rally to Rock’s side, complaining that Smith’s outburst could spark copycat
behavior, endangering other stand-ups.
Emmy Award-winning
Rosie O’Donnell called out a “sad
display of toxic masculinity from a narcissistic madman,” while Kathy Griffin
added: “Now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in
comedy clubs and theaters.”
Booker prize-winning author
Bernadine Evaristo suggested that Smith had not just wrecked what should have been his greatest
triumph, but had also sullied his legacy.
“Only the fifth black man in nearly 100 years to win
an Oscar for male lead, and the first in 16 years, resorts to violence instead
of utilizing the power of words to slay Chris Rock. Then he claims God and Love
made him do it,” she said.
Smith went from the
Oscars to the Vanity Fair after
party, where he and his family posed for photos.
Inside, he was filmed dancing and singing along to
his 1991 smash “Summertime”.
Some celebrities came to Smith’s defense, with
singer Nicki Minaj saying that as her husband, Smith was privy to the pain
Pinkett Smith endures.
“You just got to witness in real time what happens
in a man’s soul when he looks over to the woman he loves & sees her holding
back tears from a ‘little joke’ at her expense,” she tweeted.
“This is what any & every real man feels in that
instant. While y’all seeing the joke he’s seeing her pain.”
Some social media users called for Smith to be
stripped of his Oscar, but Academy governor and Oscar winner
Whoopi Goldberg
said that would not happen.
“We’re not going to take that Oscar from him,” she
said on daytime TV show “The View”.
“There will be consequences I’m sure, but I don’t
think that’s what they’re going to do.”
One Academy voter, who wished to remain anonymous,
said it was frustrating how the incident had dominated coverage.
“I would have preferred the story being about the great
diversity of the Awards show, which now seems secondary,” the person told AFP.
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