At a private screening in The London Hotel for his new movie, Emancipation, Will Smith revealed that boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. called him for 10 days straight to make sure the actor was okay. Mayweather was also in the crowd as Smith delivered his speech.
Everyone knows what happened at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony in March. 54-year-old Smith, who suddenly stepped onto the stage while 57-year-old Saturday Night Live alum Chris Rock was performing his emcee duties, slapped Rock as thousands of audience members and viewers at home watched. Days later, he found himself in a dark place as he was on the receiving end of everyone’s ire.
He faced backlash from fans and peers alike. Following the incident, several other celebrities reached out to Smith to check up on him, including Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry.
Apparently, Mayweather also showed his support even though they weren’t close friends.
“I want to say something also about Floyd. So we’ve met each other, we’ve seen each other around, but we weren’t like, friends,” Smith told the audience. “And, the day after the Oscars, for 10 days, he called me every day.”
“And he was like, ‘Hey, you know you the champ, right? You good? You know you the champ, right? I want you to hear my voice say it,’” Smith continued. “Every day he called me. And it’s like, that’s my dude forever right there.”
As seen on the video obtained by TMZ Sports, Mayweather nodded in agreement and seemingly mouthed the words, “That’s right.”
All of Will Smith’s hard work through the years went down the drain following what’s often called “The Oscars Slapgate.”
Violence is never the answer. Smith knew that; Rock knew that; everyone in the Oscars ceremony knew that. Making jokes at the expense of their fellow celebrities is nothing new. Over the years, there had been a couple of hosts who took their jokes too far, but none reacted as extremely as Smith.
Rock was on stage, presenting the Best Documentary Feature. He cracked a few jokes aimed at some of the members of the audience. He directed one comment to Smith’s wife, Jada, who was sporting a shaved head after she was diagnosed with alopecia.
Rock told her that he could not wait to see her in G.I. Jane—a 1997 film starring Demi Moore who also donned a shaved head.
When the camera panned towards Jada, she could be seen rolling her eyes at Rock. Not long after, Will Smith walked onto the stage and slapped Rock across the face. He returned to his seat and yelled, “Keep my wife’s name outta your fu**in’ mouth.”
Rock was visibly shocked and so was everyone else.
In uncensored footage that circulated online, he reacted, “Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me.”
Interestingly, Smith won his first Oscar on that same night.
Will Smith has to live with the consequences of his actions.
As netizens condemned Smith for the assault, The Academy also banned him from the Oscars and other related events for ten years. In a video posted on his own YouTube channel, Smith apologized to Rock, acknowledging that his “behavior was unacceptable.”
“There is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave at that moment,” Smith explained. “There’s no part of me that thinks that’s the optimal way to handle a feeling of disrespect or insults.”
Smith shared that he already reached out to Rock but that the latter was still “not ready to talk.” Smith even clarified that Jada had nothing to do with the incident.
During Rock’s European comedy tour with Dave Chappelle, he claimed that the apology was far from genuine.
“F**k your hostage video,” he addressed Smith. “Yes, that s**t hurt. He played [Muhammad] Ali. I can’t even play Floyd Mayweather.”
Jada responded to the drama between her husband and Rock with a post on Instagram that read, “This is a season for healing and I’m here for it.”
Chris Rock was offered a hosting job at next year’s Oscars, but he rejected it.
He revealed this at a comedy show at the Arizona Financial Theatre. Rock reasoned that he refused the gig because it would be a lot like going back to the crime scene.
Despite all the hullabaloo, though, Rock maintained that he was not a victim. Yet, he has absolutely no desire to sit down and have a one-on-one with Smith. Rock is a busy guy with several gigs lined up; he just wants to move forward.