Will Smith says “a craze that had been bottled for a really long time” cameout on Oscars night.
The actor — who infamously slapped presenter Chris Rock mid-show — continueshis Emancipation press tour, which has become a redemption tour. On Monday,he had his first late-night interview since the incident with Trevor Noah on_The Daily Show._
“I’ve been away,” Smith quipped at the start of the interview. “What you allbeen doin’?”
Smith said he has “no independent recollection” of the night, which saw himstorm the stage to hit Rock and then curse him out from his seat. The actor,triggered by a joke made about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair, went on towin a Best Actor Oscar that night for King Richard.
“That was a horrific night, as you can imagine,” Smith went on to say.”There’s many nuances and complexities to it, but at the end of the day, Ijust — I lost it, you know? And I guess what I would say, you just never knowwhat somebody’s going through. In the audience right now, you are sitting nextto strangers, and somebody’s mother died last week. Somebody’s child is sick.Somebody just lost their job. Somebody just found out their spouse cheated.”
He continued, “There’s all these things, and they’re strangers, and you justdon’t know what is going on with people. And I was going through somethingthat night. Not that that justifies my behavior at all. You are asking , whatdid I learn, and it is that we just got to be nice to each other, man. Youknow? It’s hard.”
Smith said “the thing that was most painful” for him is that “I took my hardand made it hard for other people. I understood the idea when they say hurtpeople hurt people.”
Noah, who said he knows both Smith and Rock, talked about how Smith wrote inhis 2021 book about always being afraid of conflict — from the time when hewas a boy and he witnessed his father abuse his mother. Noah suggested that itwas Smith standing up for the wrong thing at the wrong time.
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“It was a lot of things,” Smith replied. “It was the little boy that watchedhis father beat up his mother. All of that just bubbled up in that moment. Ijust — that’s not who I want to be.”
Noah said, in his opinion, Smith made a mistake — as Smith blotted his eyeswith a tissue and said, “Now I’m crying for real” — but also made clear whatSmith did was “f***ed up.”
“I understand how shocking that was for people,” Smith said. As for himself,”I was gone. That was a rage that had been bottled for a really long time.”
Smith went on to tell a story about his 9-year-old nephew being at his houseon Oscars night and watching the telecast.
“He’s the sweetest little boy,” he said. “We came home and … he had stayed uplate to see his Uncle Will. We are sitting in my kitchen and he is on my lapand he is holding the Oscar and he is just like, ‘Why did you hit that man,Uncle Will?'” Smith began to tear up again. “It was a mess,” he said, wipinghis eyes. “I don’t want to go too far into it to give people more tomisunderstand.”
He then turned the conversation to Emancipation calling it director AntoineFuqua’s “masterpiece,” and saying it’s hard to see his person drama overshadowthe project.
“I hope their work will be honored and not be tainted based on a horrificdecision on my part,” Smith said.
Noah told Smith he hopes that he doesn’t stay hidden forever as a result ofthe incident. He urged him not to bottle up his feelings, and to embrace thathe’s not perfect. “You’re Will Smith, man,” Noah told him. “We love you.”
“That was one of the big things for me over this last couple of months,” Smithsaid in conclusion, “that I had to forgive myself for being human. And it’slike trust me — there is nobody that hates the fact that I’ m human more thanme. Finding that space for myself for myself within myself to be human. I’vealways wanted to be Superman… I had to humble down and realize I’m a flawedhuman…”
Smith resigned from the Academy after the March 27 incident and wassubsequently banned from attending the Oscars for 10 years. However, he’sstill eligible to be nominated for Best Actor for Emancipation. That movie —about an enslaved man who risks his life for his family and freedom — comes