Jada Pinkett Smith reveals what Chris Rock said to her after Oscars slap

globalnews.ca:

Jada Pinkett Smith has revealed what happened between her and Chris Rock immediately after her husband, Will Smith, slapped him across the face during the 2022 Oscars ceremony.

The incident has been referred to as “the slap heard around the world,” after Rock made a G.I. Jane joke about Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia and suffers hair loss. Smith took issue with the joke and walked onto the Oscars stage from his front-row seat and open-palm slapped Rock across the face.

Smith returned to his seat and shouted for Rock to “Keep my wife’s name out of your f–-ing mouth!”

In an interview with Hoda Kotb of NBC’s Today show, set to air in its entirety Friday night, Pinkett Smith said that she and Rock had a brief conversation immediately after the slap while snippets for the best documentary nominees were being shown.

“Chris looks to me and he says, ‘Jada, I meant no harm,'” she recalls. “I’m just out of it because I’m really worried about Will. And Will’s still talking. Now he’s mad because Chris is talking to me.”

“And I go, ‘Chris, this is about some old s–t.’ That’s all I could think of saying, right? And I couldn’t really take in his apology.”

As of this writing, Rock has not publicly commented on or corroborated Pinkett Smith’s claims. Neither has Smith.

According to Pinkett Smith, she and Rock have a long history together. The Matrix Reloaded actor said in an interview with People this week that Rock asked her out on a date while rumours were swirling that her and Smith were headed for divorce.

“I think every summer, all the reports would come out that me and Will were getting a divorce. And this particular summer, Chris, he thought that we were getting a divorce,” she said.

“So he called me and basically he was