Stephen A. Smith Goes off on Will Smith for Slapping Chris Rock

Stephen A. Smith didn’t hold back his thoughts about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock during the 2022 Oscars. Early Monday morning, the ESPN personality took to Twitter to talk about the slap. Stephen A. Smith posted a one-minute video calling out Will Smith for his actions during the live event. 

“What Will Smith did tonight was straight bulls—,” Stephen A. said. “Props and congratulations to him for winning an Oscar because dammit he deserved it. And I loved the brother and I’m proud of him, but boy was that a shameful act for him to commit tonight. To go up on stage and slap Chris Rock like that, he’s lucky he didn’t get hs a— kicked, particularly after the event was over.”

Stephen A. Smith went on to talk about how Denzel Washington, Tyler Perry and Bradley Cooper calmed Will Smith down. “Come on, bro,” he said. “Come on, man. There’s no excuse for it ladies and gentlemen, don’t even try to justify it, okay? Chris Rock said it years ago, every time Black folks doing something, you know who messes it up. I never dreamed in my wildest dreams I’d be saying that about Will Smith. A Black man, Will Packer did a phenomenal job producing the Oscars, and you do this to stain yourself, to stain the Academy Awards? Damn.” 

Will Smith slapped Rock after a joke made about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair. There was some confusion when Smith slapped Rock, but it was clear that Smith wasn’t happy when he yelled, “Keep my wife’s name out your f—ing mouth!” This happened around 45 minutes before Smith won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in the film King Richard. 

“I want to apologize to the Academy, I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees,” Smith said during his acceptance speech. “This is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying for winning an award. It’s not about winning an award for me. It’s about being able to shine a light on all of the people. Tim and Trevor and Zach and Saniyya and Demi and Aunjunue and the entire cast and crew of King Richard and Venus and Serena and the entire Williams family.”