As Chris Rock moves on from the slap heard around the world at the hands of Will Smith, fellow comedian Leslie Jones reveals Rock sought counseling alongside his daughters following the much-talked-about incident at the 94th Academy Awards.
Speaking to People Magazine, Jones opened up about the fallout of the slap from Rock, which came while he was presenting the Best Documentary Feature award at the Oscars last March. Rock and his family were “humiliated” by the slap, according to Jones, leading him to seek help after his awkward and tense exchange with the Academy Award-winning star. “That sh*t was humiliating. It really affected him,” Jones said. “People need to understand his daughters, his parents, saw that. He had to go to counseling with his daughters.”
Smith slapped Rock after Rock made a G.I. Jane joke at the expense of his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, leading Smith to get out of his seat, walk to Rock and hit him before telling him to “keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth.” Smith later accepted the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Richard Williams in King Richard.
Jones said she was “infuriated” by the situation and that Smith should have handled the situation away from the cameras. She said, “You don’t know that I was going to jump in my car and roll up there. I was so f***ing mad on so many levels… Chris Rock did a f***ing joke. I know Will, too… I was like, you couldn’t handle that sh*t afterwards? This is the Oscars. The whole world is watching.”
Jones is one of the latest Hollywood figures to hit out at Smith over the infamous slap. In an interview with Variety earlier this month, Sean Penn slammed Smith and Oscars producers for the incident. “I don’t know Will Smith. I met him once,” he said. “He seemed very nice when I met him. He was so f***ing good in King Richard. So why the f*** did you just spit on yourself and everybody else with this stupid f***ing thing?” Smith was banned from attending the Academy Awards for a decade following the incident and later apologized to Rock in a video via his YouTube channel.
Chris Rock Fired Back in His Live Netflix Special
Rock largely stayed mute about the slap until this past March in his live comedy special, Selective Outrage, when he bashed Smith for the slap and also called out Pinkett-Smith for being the source of Smith’s pent-up frustrations given their reported marital issues. The two men have not spoken since the incident, with Rock hesitant to mend fences.
Jones is currently promoting her new, uncensored memoir, Leslie F*cking Jones, which will be available on Sept. 19. Rock wrote the foreword to Jones’ new book.
Meanwhile, Rock is set to feature in the animated superhero comedy, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, which opens in theaters on Sept. 29. Smith has been working on Bad Boys 4 alongside Martin Lawrence, though filming was recently suspended due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Source: People
