On Thursday night, at a stage in Liverpool, Dave Chappelle provided a pricking appraisal about the Oscars slap perceived around the world. Chris Rock also added that Will Smith “hit me over a bulls—joke, the nicest joke I ever told.”
Actor and stand-up comedian Dave Chappelle is in the middle of the comedy juncture tour with Chris Rock, who was slapped on stage while presenting at the Academy Awards by actor Will Smith in March.
Chappelle is throwing out his uncensored opinions about Smith. According to several news outlets, he said Smith’s action was a “very strange choice.”
Rock’s genuineness was applauded by him throughout the years before accusing Smith “did an impression of a perfect man for 30 years,” as per the reports of Deadline.
The Telegraph publicized that Chappelle claimed the Gemini Man star “ripped his mask off and showed us he was as ugly as the rest of us,” adding, “Whatever the consequences are … I hope he doesn’t put his mask back on again, and lets his real face breathe.”
Chappelle said: “A lot of people forget who Will Smith is. Then 10 minutes before he was about to get the biggest award… he acted like he was back in Philadelphia,” as per The Telegraph, referring to Smith’s award for Best Actor for his role in King Richard, which he received moments following the slap.
Previously onstage, Rock also addressed the moment, asking audience, “Did that s— hurt?” as per Deadline. “Goddam right… the motherf—er hit me over a bulls–t joke, the nicest joke I ever told.”
He mentioned that inspite of being hit, the next day he went to work, and persisted that he is not a victim.
Publicly, an apology video was made by 53-year-old Smith to Rock in July which was shared to YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
Smith told the Spiral actor, “I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk,”
“I’ve reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he’s not ready to talk, and when he is he will reach out,” said Smith. “So I will say to you, Chris, I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable, and I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.”
When it was addressed the reason of his not apologizing to Rock in his Oscars acceptance speech for Best Actor, Smith said, “I was fogged out by that point. It’s all fuzzy.”
The Focus actor further said that he also wants to apologize to Rock’s mom: “I saw an interview that his mother did. That’s one of the things about that moment I didn’t realize, I wasn’t thinking, but how many people got hurt in that moment.”
“So I want to apologize to Chris’s mother; I want to apologize to Chris’s family, specifically Tony Rock [Chris’s younger brother]. We had a great relationship. Tony Rock was my man. This is probably irreparable,” said Smith.
Smith further elucidated: “I spent the last three months replaying and understanding the complexities and nuances of what happened. I’m not gonna try to unpack all of that right now but I can say to you, there was no part of me that thought that was the right way to behave in that moment.”
At the ceremony of 27th March, before his win for Best Actor, Smith walked onstage and hit the 57-year-old comedian Rock on live television after taking issue about a joke of his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. The 50-year-old Jada shaved her head as she lives with alopecia.
