Even though Rose didn't attend the Oscars, she said she reached out to her son after the incident, to tell him how proud she was of him for handling the incident well.
No mother can ever bear the thought of her child being harmed, and Chris Rock's mother, Rosaline "Rose" Rock is no exception.
In a recent interview, Rose called out Will Smith for slapping her son during the Oscars telecast. In conversation with NBC affiliate WIS of Columbia on Friday, Rose Rock said the slap didn't hurt only her son.
“When he slapped Chris, he slapped all of us. He really slapped me,” she said, per E! News. "Because when you hurt my child, you hurt me."
Smith slapped Rock on stage at the 94th Academy Awards after the latter made a distasteful joke about the former's wife's bald head—caused due to a condition called alopecia, an autoimmune disorder that causes a person's hair to fall out. The joke angered Smith, and he walked up to the stage to strike Rock.
“Keep my wife’s name out of your f–king mouth,” Smith shouted as he returned to his seat after approaching Rock and slapping him across the face, according to Us Weekly.
“You reacted to your wife giving you the side-eye and you went and made her day because she was mulled over laughing when it happened,” Rose Rock said of the moment.
Chris Rock’s mom talks about the Oscars slap:
— Pop Base (@PopBase) April 24, 2022
“When Will slapped Chris, he slapped all of us. But he really slapped me. Because when you hurt my child, you hurt me.” pic.twitter.com/lzLnXzIZSp
Rose then added that her son had been eager to present Questlove, who won an Oscar for the documentary Summer of Soul, but the slap ruined the moment. "No one even heard his speech. No one was able to just be in the moment, because everyone was sitting there like, ‘What just happened?’" she said.
Even though Rose didn't attend the Oscars, she said she reached out to her son after the incident, to tell him how proud she was of him for handling the incident well.
Meanwhile, since the controversy, Smith, who won an Oscar for his performance in King Richard, resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and, later, the organization decided it would suspend him from attending the ceremony for 10 years.
“The Board has decided, for a period of 10 years from April 8, 2022, Mr. Smith shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs, in person or virtually, including but not limited to the Academy Awards,” the organization said in a statement at the time.
“When you hurt my child, you hurt me.” https://t.co/gcnn0xqjHm
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) April 24, 2022
One day after the ceremony, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum took to Instagram to address the altercation. “Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive,” Smith wrote on, March 28, 2022 “My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable.”
Later, he apologized to the Saturday Night Live alum directly. “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be,” Smith said. “There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness. I would also like to apologize to The Academy, the producers of the show, all the attendees and everyone watching around the world.”
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Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Vince Bucci
