During a recent appearance on The Daily Show, Will Smith opened up about slapping Chris Rock during the 2022 Academy Awards.
Smith recounted the moment, calling it “a horrific night” and saying that, while there were a lot of nuances to it, he just “lost it” at the end of the day.
“[There are] many nuances and complexities to it, you know, but at the end of the day, I just, I lost it, you know,” Smith said. “I guess what I would say, you just never know what somebody’s going through.”
When asked if he learned anything from the moment, Smith said that the ultimate goal he took away is that people should be nice to one another and that people never really know what someone else is going through.
“You’re asking, what did I learn? And it’s that we just got to be nice to each other, man,” Smith said. “You know, it’s like, it’s hard. And I guess the thing that was most painful for me is, I took my hard and made it hard for other people. You know, it’s like, I understood the idea when they say hurt people hurt people.”
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Later in the interview, Smith opened up even more, saying that the moment was the result of a lot of internal things that began bubbling and that he had to forgive himself for being human.
“It was a lot of things,” said Smith. “It was the little boy that watched his father beat up his mother, you know, is that you know, all of that just bubbled up in that moment. You know, I just that’s not who I wanna be. I had to forgive myself for being human. Trust me, there’s nobody that hates the fact that I’m human more than me. And just finding that space for myself within myself to be human. It’s like, I want, I’ve always wanted to be Superman. I’ve always wanted to swoop in and save the damsel in distress, you know. And I had to humble down, you know, and realize that I’m a flawed human, and I still have an opportunity to go out in the world and contribute in a way that fills my heart, and hopefully helps other people.”
