Actor Will Smith made a recent appearance on Trevor Noah’s “The Daily Show” where he opened up about slapping Chris Rock during the 2022 Academy Awards.
Smith dubbed it a “horrific night” and said that while there were “many nuances and complexities” to it, at the end of the day “I just, I lost it, you know”.
Asked if he learned anything from the moment, Smith said that the goal he took away is that people should be nice to one another as they never really know what someone else is going through:
“You’re asking, what did I learn? And it’s that we just got to be nice to each other, man. You know, it’s like, it’s hard. And I guess the thing that was most painful for me is, I took my hard and made it hard for other people. You know, it’s like, I understood the idea when they say hurt people hurt people.”
Smith continued to open up even more, saying that the moment was the result of a lot of internal things that came to the surface and that he had to forgive himself for being human:
“It was a lot of things. It was the little boy that watched his father beat up his mother, you know, is that you know, all of that just bubbled up in that moment. You know, I just that’s not who I wanna be.
I had to forgive myself for being human. Trust me, there’s nobody that hates the fact that I’m human more than me. And just finding that space for myself within myself to be human. It’s like, I want, I’ve always wanted to be Superman. I’ve always wanted to swoop in and save the damsel in distress, you know.
And I had to humble down, you know, and realize that I’m a flawed human, and I still have an opportunity to go out in the world and contribute in a way that fills my heart, and hopefully helps other people.”
The interview, which was to promote the Apple TV+ feature “Emancipation,” runs the full episode and can be found at CTV Comedy Channel, whilst the key excerpt can be watched below which is geolocked depending upon your location:
U.S. Version
Non-U.S. Version
