Tyler Perry is clarifying his interaction with Will Smith after the actor took to the stage and slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars after the comedian made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinket-Smith. Some thought it looked like Perry was comforting Smith in the wake of the slap, which didn’t sit well with some, but he’s revealing that wasn’t the case at all.
During a chat with Gayle King as a part of the Tribeca Film Festival’s Directors Series in New York City, per People, Perry addressed his actions with Will Smith following the slap. While it appeared as if he was comforting him, he says he was trying to deescalate the situation:
“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.”
Perry gives Chris Rock all the credit for being the biggest person in the situation and that the incident was especially painful for him. That being said, he also said that it was painful for Smith, who was clearly triggered and acted extremely out of character:
“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. But I want you to understand that some 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.”
The director and actor also added some clarity about how Will Smith was feeling right after everything happened. He says when he went over to him, the actor was clearly devastated and he couldn’t believe that he had just done what he did:
“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. 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 can now see how Perry was deescalating the situation and not trying to comfort Will Smith, he was the aggressor. Like everyone in that room, I don’t think Perry could believe that Will Smith would do something like that so was just trying to calm everything down, in case things got worse. Being friends with both men, I’m sure this was no easy position for Perry to be in.
What are YOUR thoughts on Tyler Perry’s actions regarding Will Smith and Chris Rock on Oscar night after the slap?