Will Smith asserts that he has matured since slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, and he even seemed to refer to the historic slap in his most recent film, Bad Boys 4. On the other hand, Chris is not buying Will's reinvention act because the addition to the script has reopened old wounds with him.
"Chris thinks it's a pretty cheap stunt and he's telling people how lame he finds it," a source exclusively tells In Touch. "It's a classic case of Will making light of a horrific situation. Will's playing the victim. It was the lowest point of his career, but that's no excuse."
While Chris has kept a "low profile" since the headline-making moment, he "finds Will's attention seeking nauseating," according to the source. "It aggravates him that people keep bringing it up. He suffered as much as Will has and now Will has turned it into a funny scene in his movie.
As far as Chris is concerned, it's more proof that Will's a total piece of work who deserves all the crap he's gotten. Chris isn't going to let it go. If there's a way to get back at Will down the line, he'll take it."
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Chris,59, was presenting the Best Documentary Feature Oscar at the 2022 Oscars when the slap occurred. Will, 55, was nominated for Best Actor at the ceremony and sat in the front row with his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. Later that night, he won the award. The comedian made fun of Jada during his time on stage by drawing comparisons between her and G.I. Jane due to her shaved head.
"Jada, I love you," Chris said. "G.I. Jane 2, can't wait to see it." Jada, 52, suffers from alopecia, and the joke infuriated Will, who got up out of his seat and approached Chris on the stage. He then slapped Chris across the face in the middle of the live broadcast and told him, "Keep my wife's name out your f--king mouth."
Months after the broadcast on March 27, Will first addressed the matter in July 2022. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star said, "I've reached out to Chris, and the message that came back is he's not ready to talk and, when he is, he will reach out." In addition, he declared that he was "apologizing" to Chris and said, "It was not the right thing to do in that situation."
Will delivered a self-slap in Bad Boys: Ride or Die, released on June 7, more than two years later. Martin Lawrence's character starts slapping him repeatedly during one of the film's scenes where his character is experiencing a panic attack.
The film's directors addressed the similarities between the slap in the movie and what happened between Chris and Will at the Oscars. "I think, you know, if you watch the movie, you see that there are some parallels between what's happening in the movie and real life," they said. "You know, there's – it's almost like a meta experience that Will, in the character of Mike Lowrey, goes through with some themes."
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