All about Chris Rock and Jada Pinkett Smith’s feud

Chris Rock and Jada Pinkett Smith’s feud began after the former was slapped by Jada Pinkett Smith’s husband Will Smith during Oscars 2022.

Jada Koren Pinkett Smith, more commonly known as Jada Smith is an American actress and talk show host. The actress started her career as a television actress working in the series True Colors. Jada received her first movie role in 1993, where she started in the movie, Menace II Society. For her role in the movie, Jada received multiple prizes and applause, which paved the way for her 1994 release A Low Down Dirty Shame, which was an action comedy movie.

Jada received her big break in 1996 when she worked alongside Eddie Murphy in the remake of The Nutty Professor. In the same year, the actress also had a lead role in Set It Off and the San Francisco Chronicle. With her success over the years, Jada also bagged a major role in the Matrix series featuring in movies like The Matrix and its successors, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, playing the role of Niobe.

What happened between Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, and Chris Rock?

The feud between comedian Chris Rock and Jada Pinkett Smith began during the 2022 Oscars Awards ceremony. While the whole scene throughout seemed like a scripted act, it was later confirmed that Will Smith slapping Chris Rock was completely unscripted. Chris Rock, the host of the event, made an unsavory joke regarding Jada's baldness, referring to her as GI Jane, to which Will Smith walked towards the comedian and slapped him on stage.

While making his way back to Jada, Will Smith said to the comedian, "Keep my wife's name out your f*king mouth." In response, Chris Rock responded by saying, "Wow, dude. Yeah it was a GI Jane joke," which made Smith repeat in a high tone, "Keep my wife's name out your f*king mouth." Later in the evening, Will Smith received the award for Best Actor for his role in "King Richard". In his acceptance speech, Will said, "I'm being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people. I know to do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse. You got to be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business you got to be able to have people disrespecting you. And you got to smile and you got to pretend like that's okay."

By the end of his speech, Will also apologized to the Academy and his fellow nominees, closing his statement by stating that he hoped the Academy would invite him back. It was noted that throughout the speech, Will Smith did not apologize for slapping Chris Rock onstage.

Did Will Smith apologize to Chris Rock?

Yes, Will Smith did apologize to Chris Rock. The Men in Black actor apologized to the comedian through a video as well as through a post. He shared a post on social media in which he apologized to the comedian by calling his behavior “unacceptable and inexcusable.” Smith’s note read, “Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.” He also wrote, “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”

Smith also added, “Violence in all forms is poisonous and destructive.” Further in his apology he also apologized to “the Academy, the producers of the show, all the attendees, and everyone watching around the world.”

Lastly, he wrote, “I deeply regret that my behavior has stained what has been an otherwise gorgeous journey for all of us. I am a work in progress.”