Will Smith is’still sorry’ for hitting Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards and has attempted to make amends with the comedian, but all attempts have been ‘unsuccessful.’
According to a source, the Oscar winner for King Richard has “felt bad for so long” for punching Rock onstage after the latter made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. “He’s tried unsuccessfully to make peace with Chris in the best way he could,” the person stated.
“But beyond that, family is important to him,” the source added, noting that Smith “leaned on” family — also comprised of sons Trey and Jaden and daughter Willow — in the aftermath of the incident. “It all has helped him look inside and mature. He is better but still remorseful.”
The actor, 54, shocked the world when he slapped Rock, 58, onstage after he joked about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head.
While addressing the slap on his new Netflix show, Selective Outrage, Rock recently slammed Will and Jada’s relationship.
According to People, Rock is ‘flying high after the Netflix special.’
They added: ‘He said what he needed to say and doesn’t give a s*** about the reaction either way. He isn’t worried.
‘For a year, people have been waiting for [Rock’s] reaction. Overall, I believe it was positively received. People don’t expect Chris Rock to sugarcoat anything.’
Rock lashed back at Smith vocally during his new Netflix standup show, which premiered live Saturday night, a year after Smith was barred from the Academy.
In a nearly two-minute skit, Rock slammed Smith for slapping him on stage at the Oscars ceremony, making Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith the brunt of his joke about her infidelity.
‘Everybody called him a b**ch, and who’s he hitting? Me,’ Rock joked to a crowd that included a friend of Meghan Markle’s who was spotted laughing backstage, according to Page Six.
The comedian also took aim at the former ‘Suits’ actress during his special, saying she was ‘acting all dumb’ for not realizing the royal family are the ‘OGs of racism.’