*Tyler Perry is speaking out about what happened immediately following Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars in March.
Speaking to Gayle King as part of the Tribeca Film Festival’s Directors Series in New York City on Monday, Perry, who attended the Oscars ceremony, explained that he deescalated the situation after the smack, PEOPLE reports.
“There’s a difference between comforting and deescalating, that’s No. 1. And I left early to get to Chris to make sure he was okay. Being friends with both of them has been very difficult,” said Perry.
“Trust me, as painful as it was for all of us in the room, it was as painful for Chris, who was a pure champion for the way he handled it,” he added. “But I want you to understand that something happened that was extremely painful for [Will] as well. That is no excuse. He was completely wrong for what he did. But something triggered him — that is so out of everything he is.”
READ MORE: Chris Rock Rejects Jada’s Call for Reconciliation with Will Smith After Oscar Slap
Perry said he told Will that his actions were “wrong.”
“And I’ll tell you, when we walked over to him, he was devastated. He couldn’t believe what happened. He couldn’t believe he did it,” Perry said. “I’m looking at this man in his eyes going, ‘What are you doing? This is your night.’ And to get all the way to this moment, winning an Oscar, that was one of the crowning moments of his career that he wanted so desperately, and to have something like that happen….”
“I think he is very much in reflection of trying to figure out what happened,” continued Perry. “Because what I’ll tell you is I just read his book, and there’s this moment about not being able to protect his mother [as a child]. I know that feeling — I’m getting chills just thinking about it. I know that feeling of being a man and thinking about the little boy. And if that trauma is not dealt with right away, as you get older it will show up in the most inappropriate, most horrible time. I know Will. I know him well.”
In the weeks since the Oscars, Rock has rejected Jada Pinkett Smith’s call for reconciliation between him and Will Smith.
As reported by EW, the actress called on her husband and Rock to reconcile on her award-winning Facebook talk show. “Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years,” Jada recently said on “Red Table Talk,” “and that’s keep figuring out this thing called life together.”
Jada addressed the situation in the latest episode as the show focused on alopecia. Rock made a joke about her bald head (from her own alopecia battle) during the live Oscars telecast and this is what prompted Will to assault him.
Jada said, “This is a really important Red Table Talk on alopecia. Considering what I’ve been through with my own health and what happened at the Oscars, thousands have reached out to me with their stories. I’m using this moment to give our alopecia family an opportunity to talk about what it’s like to have this condition and to inform people about what alopecia actually is.”
Jada continued, “Now about Oscar night, my deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out and reconcile. The state of the world today, we need them both.”
Immediately after he slapped Rock, Smith apologized and resigned from the Academy. He has also been banned from Academy-related events for the next 10 years.
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