It’s been over a year since Will Smith and Chris Rock’s Oscar moment and celebrities are still weighing in on the topic.
While speaking with The Daily Mail, Cedric The Entertainer spoke about how he isn’t a fan of cancel culture and how easy it is to lose everything you worked for after making one mistake. “People are human beings, and they make human mistakes.” Cedric shared. “So this idea of canceling people out of their lives and saying they can’t exist anymore or they shouldn’t, I feel that that’s a bridge too far. And it’s usually done in the sense of blind internet power,” he added.
The comedian then went on to speak about the viral moment between Smith and Rock that occurred last year and explained how cancel culture used a single mistake to redraft the narrative of a person’s character. “Eventually, as men, there is a degree [to which] both of them had great falls because of that,” said “The Neighborhood” star. “One had the kind of physical experience happen to them, and the other one had the repercussions of it and saw that they were seen in a different way.”
Cedric also noted how just like everyone else in the world he was shocked after seeing the slap. “It is people that have no real attachment to it, just giving an opinion for the moment,” said the industry veteran. “And then they jump on the wave, and they create this thing that comes rushing at you that makes you look like the worst human being in the world. Because all of us feel like sometimes we’re tough guys. You’ll be like, ‘Oh, that guy said this to me. I’ll do this.’ But you don’t know how somebody would really respond to that or if that situation would be a detriment to who you are.”
As we previously reported, Chris Rock did a special on Netflix live called “selective outrage” where he finally spoke about Will Smith slapping him at the Oscars in front of millions of people watching.
Now Smith did apologize for putting his hands on Rock in a Youtube video. During the apology, Smith also addressed questions about whether or not Pinkett Smith, who was seen on camera rolling her eyes at Rock’s joke comparing her buzzcut to Demi Moore from “G.I. Jane,” is who urged him to charge the stage.
The actor said his wife said nothing to spur him to go on stage and assault Rock. “It’s like, you know, I made a choice on my own, from my own experiences, from my history with Chris,” Smith says. “Jada had nothing to do with it. I’m sorry, babe. I want to say sorry to my kids and my family for the heat that I brought on all of us.”
“To all my fellow nominees, you know, this is a community, it’s like I won because you voted for me,” Smith said in the video. “And it really breaks my heart to have stolen and tarnished your moment. I can still see Questlove’s eyes. You know, it happened on Questlove’s award. And, you know, it’s like, ‘I’m sorry’ really isn’t sufficient.”