Insight Bureau: Actor Will Smith on Monday apologised to Chris Rock after slapping him during the Oscars ceremony.
In his statement on Instagram, Smith said that violence in all forms was “poisonous and destructive”.
At Sunday’s Academy Award Ceremony, Smith smacked Rock for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith as being in “GI Jane 2” – seemingly a reference to her shaved head. She had tonsured her head in 2021 following a diagnosis of alopecia, a condition that leads to hair loss.
“I was out of line and I was wrong,” Smith said in an Instagram post. “I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”
“My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable,” he said. “Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.”
The 53-year-old hollywood actor also apologised to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, which organises the Oscars, the attendees, the audience and the family of tennis players Serena Williams and Venus Williams.
Earlier, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences condemned Will Smith’s slap of presenter Chris Rock and said it had started a formal review of the incident.