Washington, Europe Brief News- Actor Will Smith posted a YouTube video Friday apologizing for striking presenter Chris Rock during the live TV broadcast of this year’s Academy Awards ceremony.
Audiences around the world watched Smith stride onstage after Rock made a crack about Smith’s wife’s short haircut. Smith slapped Rock in the face, then sat back down in the audience and yelled expletives at him.
“Chris, I apologise to you. My behaviour was unacceptable,” he said.
“I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.”
The actor slapped Rock on stage at the Academy Awards in March, after the comic made a joke about Smith’s wife.
Smith has previously only issued written statements about the altercation. In the video, on his own YouTube channel, he answers questions that appear to be written by fans.
He reads out out the questions himself, addressing the camera directly.
“I spent the last three months replaying and understanding the nuances and the complexities of what happened in that moment,” the actor said.
“I wasn’t thinking about how many people got hurt in that moment… There is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment.”
Smith explained: “I’ve reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he’s not ready to talk and when he is, he will reach out.”
He also said his wife Jada Pinkett Smith did not ask him to do something to defend her after Rock made the joke. “Jada had nothing to do with it,” Smith said.
“I want to say sorry to my kids and my family for the heat that I brought on all of us.”
