Family relations. Chris Rock’s mom just revealed how she truly felt when her son was slapped at the Oscars by Will Smith. The Rock matriarch, Rosalie, who goes by Rose Rock, told her local news station about what she did when she saw the moment live on TV.
Rose thought that the slap was staged until Will “started using obscenities.” she explained in an interview with local South Carolina news station WIS-TV. “When he slapped Chris, he slapped all of us,” Rock added. “”Because when you hurt my child, you hurt me.” The mother of the Saturday Night Live alum also said that she would usually attend the Academy Awards ceremony with her son, however this year she stayed home.
Smith slapped Rock after the comedian made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head at the 2022 Academy Awards on March 27. “G.I, Jane 2, can’t wait to see it,” Rock joked. After Rock’s joke, Smith went on stage and slapped him before returning to his seat. “Wow, Will Smith just slapped the s—t out of me,” Rock said. When Will went back to his seat, he screamed for Rock, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f—king mouth.”
During her interview with WIS-TV, Rock’s mother also reacted to Smith’s first Oscar win moments after the slap. “No one even heard his speech,” she said, referring to Smith’s win for Best Actor for his portrayal in King Richard. “No one was able to just be in the moment because everyone was sitting there like, ‘what just happened?’” As for whether she accepted Smith’s apology to Chris, Rose said “I feel really bad that he never apologized. I mean his people wrote up a piece saying I apologize to Chris Rock, but you see something like that is personal, you reach out.”
Smith apologized to the Everybody Hates Chris alum in an Instagram post on March 29, 2022. “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. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness. I would also like to apologize to the Academy, the producers of the show, all the attendees and everyone watching around the world,” he wrote. “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.”
After the incident, the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences banned Smith from attending any Academy related event for the next 10 years. “The Board has decided, for a period of 10 years from April 8, 2022, Mr. Smith shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs, in person or virtually, including but not limited to the Academy Awards. We want to express our deep gratitude to Mr. Rock for maintaining his composure under extraordinary circumstances. We also want to thank our hosts, nominees, presenters and winners for their poise and grace during our telecast,” the Academy said in a statement at the time.
Since the slap, Chris hasn’t said much about the incident aside from a small comment at one of his comedy shows. “I’m OK, I have a whole show and I’m not talking about that until I get paid,” Rock said during a comedy show in Indio, California, on April 8, 2022, referring to the Academy’s decision to ban Smith. “Life is good. I got my hearing back.”