Even excluding all the 2022 Academy Awards winners, the latest Oscars ceremony was a wild night. Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage for joking about his wife’s bald look, only for him to win Best Actor after. Ever since then, a number of celebrities and people on social media cannot stop talking about this incident. Will Smith’s former co-star Tatyana Ali, who played Cousin Ashley in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, shared her love for Smith, but also gave her honest thoughts about what happened at the Oscars.
Tatyana Ali posted on Twitter that she loves Will Smith very much, but that Chris Rock did not deserve to be slapped. She expressed her confusion regarding what caused the chaos, but believes that Smith has a big heart. She believes in Smith, as she has seen him try his best to do what is right. Read her thoughts for yourself below:
I love #WillSmith very much. @chrisrock didn’t deserve to be hit. Period. My heart aches for what has happened. I don’t know what caused that chaos & confusion, but I do know that Will has a big heart. I’ve seen him many times try his best to do what is right. I believe in him.April 3, 2022
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actress is not the only celebrity who has expressed their opinion on the incident. Another Fresh Prince actress, Janet Hubert, reacted to Will Smith by saying that the actions of both people were incorrect, but she was proud of the Best Actor winner for his actions. Conversely, some other celebrities felt differently. The Batman’s Zoe Kravitz responded to the Will Smith brouhaha by expressing disappointment that the Oscars have become about “screaming profanities and insulting assaulting people on stage.” Comedy actor Jim Carrey was “sickened” by the incident and feels you do not have the right to walk up on stage and hit someone over their words.
Will Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing Richard Williams, the father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, in King Richard. He gave a passionate speech after his scuffle about how he wants to be “an ambassador[…] of love, care, and concern.” He apologized in his speech to The Academy and the other nominees by noting that “love will make you do crazy things.” He later went on to formally apologize to Chris Rock on social media about how embarrassed he was by his actions. Chris Rock declined to press charges against Smith, but the LAPD can still issue a police report if Rock chose to at a later date.
Following the Oscars slap, Will Smith resigned from The Academy, saying in a statement that he was heartbroken over his actions and will accept further consequences from the Board. This has led to two of Smith’s upcoming movies receiving setbacks – Fast & Loose and Bad Boys 4.
How will Will Smith’s actions at the Oscars impact his career going forward? It looks like everything is up in the air with the King Richard star. Be sure to continue checking in with CinemaBlend to get the latest scoop on where the actor is heading going forward.
