*Years after the slap heard around the world, Will Smith is sharing the aftermath from slapping Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards.
Chatting with BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Remi Burgz, the “Willennium” rapper touched on the emotional and mental impact his actions against Rock had on him while sparking creative juices for a musical return.
According to Smith, his need for approval proved to be an issue that needed to be addressed.
“The last few years for me have been really deep reflection,” Smith revealed to Burgz. “After the Oscars, I shut it down for a minute and really went into the internal work and just taking a big, strong, honest look at myself.”
Smith’s reflection came after the infamous night at the Oscar, AllHIpHop noted while detailing the award show drama. The incident, which aired live March 2022 and quickly dominated headlines, resulted in Smith being banned from the Oscars for a decade as well as a slew of reactions and opinions that generated the kind of talk no one wants to be a part off.
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Yet the backlash came in full, headline after headline blasting him. For Smith, it was unlike anything he had ever experienced in his professional life.
“For the first time in my career, (I was) having to deal with a level of disapproval that I never had to experience,” he explained. “The addiction to the approval of others that I had to dissolve, it was brutal.”
The situation between Smith and Rock was sparked when the confrontation happened during the 94th Academy Awards in March 2022, when Rock, who was the shaved head presenting on stage, made a joke referencing the shaved head of Smith’ wife at the time, Jada Pinkett Smith.
An upset Smith took his feelings to the stage, walking up to the funnyman, striking him in the fact and shouted, “Keep my wife’s name out your f**king mouth!”
Looking back, Smith admitted the moment exposed sides of him he didn’t know existed.
“It was just like there was a manhole cover over some unexplored areas and the manhole cover came off,” he said. “It was scary for a minute what was in there.”
Although the consequences for slapping Rock were intense, Smith mentioned some good that came out of the incident in the form of a creative surge.
“But then all of a sudden, all these new thoughts, new energies, new creativity came through like a geyser and it started showing up as music,” he said.
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