Former co-star of Will Smith and Chris Rock speaks out about Oscars slap
Disney star Raven-Symoné has revealed her initial reactions to her former co-stars’ Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars.
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Actress Raven-Symoné has spoken out about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Academy Awards.
The That’s So Raven star chatted with PeopleTV’s entertainment news program People, available to stream on Flash.
The 36-year-old worked with both actors throughout her career. She appeared on an episode of Smith’s 90s ’sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and worked with Rock on two projects, the 1998 film Doctor Dolittle and the 2009 documentary Good Hair.
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People’s host Jeremy Parson asked the Disney alum about her reaction to the much-talked-about Oscars moment, to which she exclaimed: “Qoo, ooh!!!”
“I mean, I love a meme. Okay?,” she told the entertainment show.
The Cheetah Girls starlet said her “politically correct answer is, I’m really proud of Will for apologising and standing up for what he believes in and also telling his truth”.
“And here’s the one thing I will say, in this industry, a lot of the times, we get the tail end of a long conversation.
“And the tail end will end up in an ‘ooh!’ moment or a word or something like that, and we take it out of context, and we blow it up.”
“We don’t know the rest of the story,” she added.
“And knowing that there’s a long history and he was defending his woman at the time – of course, there could have been other times to do that – but thank you for making that award show very interesting!”
On Monday, when Rock took the Oscars stage to present the Academy Award for Best Documentary, he looked over at Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, 50, and joked, “Jada, I love you. ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see you.”
The quip was not taken well by the actress, who is bald as a result of her struggles with alopecia.
After she was seen on camera rolling her eyes, Smith, 53, rushed the stage to slap Rock. Once the Bad Boys star returned to his seat, he yelled, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth.”
The Oscar-winner took to Instagram and apologised to Rock for hitting him, saying “violence is poisonous and destructive”.
“My behaviour at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable,” Smith wrote. “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.
“I would like to publicly apologize (sic) to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. 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.”
Originally published as Former co-star of Will Smith and Chris Rock speaks out about Oscars slap
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