NBA icon Kareem Abdul-Jabbar destroys Will Smith for slapping Chris Rock

An NBA legend has torn strips off a “petulant” Will Smith, suggesting the infamous slap has damaged the entire black community.

NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ripped Will Smith for slapping Chris Rock during the Academy Awards in a lengthy essay posted on his SubStack page.

The Basketball Hall of Famer wrote that Smith’s slap had a reverberating effect on the entertainment industry and the Black community as a whole.

“When Will Smith stormed onto the Oscars stage to strike Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife’s short hair, he did a lot more damage than just to Rock’s face. With a single petulant blow, he advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the entertainment industry, and perpetuated stereotypes about the Black community,” he wrote.

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Abdul-Jabbar, who once clocked Kent Benson in retaliation for getting hit in the stomach during a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks in the 1970s, disagreed with the notion that Smith’s action was chivalrous in any way.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Turner Sports.

“Actually, it was the opposite. Smith’s slap was also a slap to women. If Rock had physically attacked Pinkett Smith, Smith’s intervention would have been welcome. Or if he’d remained in his seat and yelled his post-slap threat, that would have been unnecessary, but understandable,” he wrote.

“But by hitting Rock, he announced that his wife was incapable of defending herself — against words. From everything I’d seen of Pinkett Smith over the years, she’s a very capable, tough, smart woman who can single-handedly take on a lame joke at the Academy Awards show.”

Smith’s Oscars acceptance speech for his portrayal of Richard Williams in the film “King Richard” felt worse to Abdul-Jabbar.

Kereem Abdul-Jabbar is not happy with Will Smith. Photo: AFP.

“Those who protect don’t brag about it in front of 15 million people. They just do it and shut up. You don’t do it as a movie promotion claiming how you’re like the character you just won an award portraying. By using these women to virtue signal, he was in fact exploiting them to benefit himself. But, of course, the speech was about justifying his violence,” Abdul-Jabbar added.

“Apparently, so many people need Smith’s protection that occasionally it gets too much and someone needs to be smacked.”

Abdul-Jabbar praised Rock for handling the post-slap with “grace and maturity”.

The former Lakers centre — who once appeared on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air — finished by saying he was a fan of Smith’s.

He wrote he just wanted to make sure the incident was more of a cautionary tale for those watching at home rather than everyone glorifying “bad behaviour”.

Smith on Tuesday (AEDT) apologised for the incident.

“Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive,” Smith wrote in part on Instagram before publicly apologising to Rock.

“I was out of line and I was wrong.”

— This story originally appeared on foxnews.com and has been republished with permission

Originally published as NBA icon Kareem Abdul-Jabbar destroys Will Smith for slapping Chris Rock