Nearly three years after the infamous moment when he slapped comedian Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, actor Will Smith is speaking candidly about the aftermath, describing the public fallout as “brutal.” “The last few years for me have been really deep reflection,” the actor tells 1Xtra’s Remi Burgz. “After the Oscars I shut it down for a minute and really went into the internal work and just taking a big, strong, honest look at myself.” Smith was banned from the Academy Awards for 10 years following the incident in which he struck Rock over a joke aimed at his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who lives with alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss.
Reflecting on the emotional toll, the 56-year-old actor admitted that it was the first time he had to confront widespread public disapproval.
“For the first time in my career, [I was] having to deal with a level of disapproval that I never had to experience,” he said.
“The addiction to the approval of others that I had to dissolve was brutal.”
The slap, which happened live on stage after Rock joked about Jada’s shaved head, quickly went viral.
Millions watched as Smith marched up and struck the comedian, then returned to his seat and yelled at him to keep his wife’s name out of his mouth.
Shortly afterward, Smith resigned from the Academy and described his behavior as “shocking, painful, and inexcusable.”
He now says the incident prompted a deeper personal reckoning.
“It was just like there was a manhole cover over some unexplored areas, and the manhole cover came off,” he tells 1Xtra.
“It was scary for a minute what was in there.
But then all of a sudden, all these new thoughts, new energies, new creativity came through like a geyser, and it started showing up as music.”
Smith recently released Based On A True Story, his first album in two decades. Before returning to music, he sought guidance from some major names.
“When I started writing, I called Jay Z and I called Kendrick,” he says.
“Kendrick said you have to say those things you’ve always been scared to say, and Jay Z said don’t even go near it if you’re not trying to tell the truth.”
Despite harsh reviews from critics, Pitchfork called the album “excruciatingly corny,” while Rolling Stone dismissed it as “cringey… clunky and dated.” Smith views it as a cathartic release.
“It was a fun way to express the madness of what goes on in my head,” he explains.
“It is the exploration of what I call the ‘despicable prisoners.’
It’s the parts of myself that have been banished, the parts of myself I’m not allowed to talk about on the radio, the part of myself I’m not even allowed to acknowledge is real.
Working in that space of authenticity, honesty, and imperfection, allowing that to grow into a higher perfection than the imagery of Will Smith is where I am as an artist and as a human right now.”