December 16, 2022
Martin Lawrence: ‘Chris Rock Didn’t Deserve’ Oscars Slap — Says Will Smith ‘Wasn’t In The Right Space’
Martin Lawrence had a hard time watching the now-infamous Oscars slap between Will Smith and Chris Rock because of his friendship with both actors.
Lawrence appeared on Vince Carter’s The VC Show podcast where he was asked to share his thoughts about his Bad Boys co-star slapping Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards.
“When it happened, I texted both of them after it happened, just to see how they were doing and everything,” Lawrence said, in a clip captured by The Art of Dialogue. “But, it was just an unfortunate situation.”
He continued,
“You know, Will wasn’t in the right space that night, and Chris Rock didn’t deserve that.”
“So, it’s such an unfortunate situation. It’s like seeing your brothers fightin’ and you don’t want to see your brothers fightin’. Chris Rock didn’t deserve that at all.”
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Smith broke his silence on the slap attack last month during an appearance on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and admitted to “going through something” personal on the night he attacked Rock; minutes before accepting his first Academy Award, Variety reports.
“That was a horrific night, as you can imagine. There’s many nuances and complexities to it. But at the end of the day, I just — I lost it, you know?” Smith continued.
“I was going through something that night, you know? Not that that justifies my behavior at all… It was a lot of things. It was the little boy that watched his father beat up his mother, you know? All of that just bubbled up in that moment. That is not who I want to be.”
Smith credited his outburst to pent up “rage” he had “bottled” inside since childhood.
“I was gone. That was a rage that had been bottled for a really long time,” Smith said.
“My nephew is nine. He is the sweetest little boy. We came home. He had stayed up late to see his uncle Will and we are sitting in my kitchen and he is on my lap and he is holding the Oscar and he is just like, ‘Why did you hit that man, Uncle Will?’ Damn it. Why are you trying to Oprah me?”