Sean Penn questions the backlash Will Smith received after hitting Chris Rock at the Oscars.
In a new interview with VariationPenn, 63, called out Smith, 54, when he took the stage at the Academy Awards in March 2022 and slapped Rock, 58, in the face. Smith won Best Actor that night. King Richardgives an emotional speech. After the performance, Smith attended parties celebrating the win.
“I don’t know Will Smith. I met him once. He seemed very nice when I met him. It was so good King Richard,” Penn included his comments in the foreword Variation.
He continued, “So why did you spit on yourself and everyone else with this stupid thing? Why did I go to jail for what you did? And you’re still sitting there?” Why are you standing and applauding his worst moment as a human being?”
In 1987, at the age of 26, Penn was sentenced to 60 days in county jail for punching and spitting on an extra on a movie set. Colors, the los angeles times was reported at the time. He served 33 days of the sentence.
There have been numerous other incidents in which the actor was cited for fighting, including in 2010 when he was sentenced to three years probation and 300 hours of community service after attacking a photographer. Los Angeles Times.
Smith later apologized for his outburst at the Oscars and resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which banned him from attending its events for 10 years.
“My behavior was unacceptable,” he said in a video message last year, adding that he “tried to express regret without shame.”
“I’m a human being. I made a mistake, and I try not to think of myself as an asshole,” Smith said at the time.
Will Packer, the producer of the 2022 Oscars, previously came out with a statement. Good Morning America It was stated in the interview that police officers were ready to arrest Smith at the event if Rock wanted to press charges.
“The word they used at that moment was, ‘That’s battery.’ They said, ‘We’re going to go get him. We’re ready to get him right away, you can file charges. We can arrest him.'” Packer said at the time, “They were determining their options.” In the end, Rock declined to press charges.
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Penn directed a new documentary about Ukraine’s fight against Russia. Told Variation He criticized the Oscars for not allowing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to share a message during the ceremony, as was the case with other awards programs at the time.
“The Oscar producer thought: ‘Oh, not carefree enough.’ “So guess what you got instead? Will Smith!” said Penn. He added, “This wouldn’t happen with f—s– Zelenskyy. Will Smith would never leave that chair to take part in stupid violence. This would never happen.”
Penn also shared why he gifted the Oscar statuette to Zelenskyy in November. (Won Best Actor award mysterious river in 2004 and Milk in 2009.)
“So I thought, f—, you know what? I’m going to give them to Ukraine. They could be melted down and turned into bullets that could be thrown at the Russians,” he said.