Will Smith Posts Video Poking Fun at His Oscar Win After Chris Rock Slap
Will Smith is ready to joke about the 2022 Oscars ceremony. On Monday, Smith posted a TikTok dueting a viral video from another account. The punchline of Smith's near-silent video was when he picked up his Oscar from off-screen – a vague reference to "the slap" that got him banned from the Academy Awards altogether.
Smith made headlines last spring when he walked on stage and slapped Chris Rock for making a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. The entire assembly was in shock and the ceremony proceeded as if the interruption had never happened – including Smith winning the award for Best Actor just a few minutes later. However, afterward, Smith was criticized heavily, and the Oscars organizers were criticized for not having Smith removed from the building. Smith accepted his punishment and has mostly laid low since then, but apparently, enough time has now passed for him to joke about the whole thing.
@willsmith #duet with @missmoneyworking
♬ original sound – Will Smith
That's what happened on Monday when Smith created a TikTok "duet" with a video by the user Sam Rossi. Rossi's 30-second clip was a description of a mental "exercise" that supposed that all objects have some form of "consciousness." She advised her followers to focus on any inanimate objects in their life with significance and "ask" those objects what they think of them. Smith looked at the camera and seemed to ponder her words deeply in his duet.
At the very end, Smith took over the whole screen and sighed heavily. He reached off-screen and picked up his Oscar statue. His expression did not imply what conclusion he was drawing here, but the reference seemed straightforward enough.
Rossi's original video was a bit longer than the clip in Smith's duet. It was first published on Jan. 30, and on Tuesday Rossi published a new TikTok claiming that she had metaphysically caused Smith to share her video, thus promoting her profile.
Smith is undoubtedly grappling with the Oscars drama all over again now that another award show is coming up. Smith has been banned from the Oscars for 10 years, so he will next be in the audience in the year 2032. Some fans thought that his video this week was funny and lighthearted, agreeing that it is time to begin joking about this subject. Others seemed to think it was a bit too soon to be cracking jokes.
In fairness, Smith has given more serious statements and interviews since last year's Oscars ceremony a few times. In an appearance on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Smith admitted that he is ashamed of his actions and he believes he was way over the line. Smith has also publicly apologized to Rock, the Academy and the viewers.