This year, the most talked-about moment from the Academy Awards wasn’t necessarily any of the award winners or acceptance speeches, but instead, the moment when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock.
Following the Oscars slap, just about anyone and everyone gave their opinion about the matter, with many celebrities supporting Chris Rock.
While Rock has yet to speak on the matter, his mother recently opened up about the incident during an interview and took aim at Will Smith for slapping her son.
Chris Rock’s mom calls out Will Smith’s Oscars slap
During WIS News 10’s Soda City Live, Rose Rock, the mother of comedian Chris Rock, commented about the Oscars incident that her son was part of when actor Will Smith slapped him.
According to WIS News 10, it was the one year that Rose Rock didn’t attend the show when her son was part of the ceremony. She was watching at home when he got slapped onstage in front of millions of other people watching the telecast.
She said her son is “doing well” following the incident and is “still processing” the incident because “that’s not something you expect” to happen.
“I told someone, ‘When Will slapped Chris, he slapped all of us, but he really slapped me,'” Rose Rock said during the interview, explaining, “when you hurt my child, you hurt me.”
She went on to say that she’s never met Will Smith but that he and her other son, Tony Rock, previously worked together on the TV series All of Us, which Will and Jada Pinkett Smith created with Betsy Borns.
When asked what she would say to Will if she could have a conversation with him about the Oscars incident, Rose said she felt that he “didn’t think” things through before taking action.
“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’ve happened from that. Chris could’ve stepped back and fallen. You really could’ve gotten taken out in handcuffs. You know, so, you didn’t think.'”
“You reacted to your wife giving you the side-eye, and you went and made her day because she was mulled over laughing when it happened,” Rose Rock said of Will Smith’s decision to slap her son.
The slap happened soon after Rock had made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith appearing in G.I. Jane 2 due to her bald look. It was revealed after the Oscars that Chris was unaware Jada has alopecia, a condition that results in hair loss, causing her to adopt the bald look.
Chris Rock has yet to directly speak about Oscars slap
After the Oscars incident, ticket sales for Chris Rock’s Ego Death World Tour surged on third-party ticket seller websites. That was likely due to loyal fans and others wanting to hear what Rock would have to say in his routine about getting slapped by Will Smith.
However, Rock hasn’t said much about the incident, telling people he already had other material prepared for the shows and is still processing the incident.
He alluded to the Oscars slap during one show, joking that “life is good,” and he got his “hearing back.” He also told the crowd that he wouldn’t talk about things until he “got paid.” Beyond that, he’s been tight-lipped in making jokes or comments about the Academy Awards drama.
While he’s made headlines with standing ovations at shows and increased ticket prices after the Oscars, Smith has been experiencing the opposite in terms of his brand and star power.
He resigned as a member of the Academy and later was banned by the Academy’s board of governors for ten years from their events. Several projects the actor was attached to have also been paused or canceled, with Smith keeping a very low profile.
The Best Actor winner recently popped up in India, seemingly escaping from the public eye during the continued headlines about his actions at the annual awards show.