Kenny Rock, Chris Rock’s younger brother, says his brother would not have joked about Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia if he had known.
Chris, 57, presented the Best Documentary Feature award at the 94th annual Academy Awards on March 27. He joked before presenting the award. Motioning to Jada in the audience, he said, “Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see it,” comparing her shaved head to Demi Moore’s hairdo in the 1997 movie GI Jane. “That was a nice one,” Chris said when Jada didn’t seem amused by the gag.
Moments later, Will, 53, walked onstage and slapped Chris, leaving him monetarily speechless. Rock recovered quickly and joked, “Wow,” Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me.”
Back in his seat, Smith shouted twice, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f—–g mouth!” Like a true professional, Chris went on with the show.
Jada, 50, has previously spoken publicly about having alopecia, although Chris’s brother Kenny, 42, told the Los Angeles Times that he wasn’t aware: “The joke was funny. It wasn’t hilariously funny, but I know that if he knew that she had alopecia … he wouldn’t make a joke about that. But he didn’t know.”
Kenny spoke about seeing his sibling being hit on live television, “It eats at me watching it over and over again because you’ve seen a loved one being attacked and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“Every time I’m watching the videos, it’s like a rendition that just keeps going over and over in my head. My brother was no threat to him and you just had no respect for him at that moment. You just belittled him in front of millions of people that watch the show,” he said.
Chris didn’t receive an apology directly from Will when he won Best Actor for King Richard soon after, but he did the next day in a statement, admitting, “I was out of line, and I was wrong.” Will explained, “Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear, and I reacted emotionally.”
“I might have looked at it differently had he initially apologised when he got on the stage and cried and accepted the award,” said Kenny “, but he didn’t, so, right there, that tells me that it is something else.”
Will has since resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, apologising further for his actions, calling his behaviour “shocking, painful and inexcusable.”
“The list of those I have hurt is long and includes Chris, his family, many of my dear friends and loved ones, all those in attendance, and global audiences at home,” said Will, later adding, “Change takes time, and I am committed to doing the work to ensure that I never again allow violence to overtake reason.”
Kenny doesn’t accept the apology. He told the LA Times, “No, I don’t accept it because I don’t think it was genuine. I think his publicist and the people that work under him probably advised him to do that.”
“He belittled my brother,” he added. “He had no respect for him. In my opinion, he embarrassed himself by doing that and his legacy by doing that.”
Since the events at the Oscars, Chris Rock’s non-verbal learning disorder (NVLD) has garnered attention. According to the NVLD Project, people with NVLD have particular “difficulty with social skills and spatial concepts.” Many people questioned whether this is why Chris appeared to lean forward when Will approached him on stage.
Following the incident, Jada shared a message on Instagram saying, “This is a season for healing, and I’m here for it.” Less than a week before the Oscars, Jada said in a social media upload while discussing her hair journey, “I don’t give two craps what people think of this bald head of mine. Because guess what? I love it.”
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