Chris Rock‘s mom Rose has just broken her silence about the Will Smith slap controversy. “I told someone, when Will slapped Chris, he slapped all of us, but he really slapped me,” Rose said to North Carolina NBC affiliate WIS 10 News. “When you hurt my child, you hurt me”.
The 77-year-old revealed that Chris is “still processing” the shocking incident which happened on-stage during the Oscars night on March 27, but said she was “really, really proud” with how the 57-year-old comedian reacted. She also claimed that he “didn’t have a bunch of s— planned” to address it. He’s also said said in a comedy routine he’ll speak about the slap when “paid.”
Chris’ mom also shared what she would say to Will, who slapped her son in reaction to a G.I. Jane joke aimed at Jada Pinkett-Smith, who suffers from alopecia. “I have no idea what I would say other than, ‘What in the world were you thinking?’ Because you did a slap, but so many things could have happened,” she explained.
“Chris could have stepped back and fallen. You really could have gotten taken out in handcuffs. You didn’t think. You reacted to your wife giving you the side-eye, and you went up, and you made her day because she was bowled over laughing when it happened,” Rose went on. Notably, Chris declined to press charges — and therefore police did not go forward with arresting Will, who went on to win the Best Actor award for King Richard later that night.
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Will is banned from attending the Oscars for 10 years. The 53-year-old also stepped down from The Academy, meaning he will no longer be a voting member in the organization. Rose, however, didn’t seem impressed with the punishment. “What does that mean? You don’t even go every year,” 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.”