Serena Williams Addressed Will Smith's Oscars Slap a Year Later

Serena Williams, Will Smith and Venus Williams arrive for the 33rd Annual Producers Guild Awards at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles on March 19, 2022

(Image credit: Photo by Michael Tran / Getty)

published 3 February 2023

Serena Williams has broken her silence about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars in 2022.

In case you're wondering why it's noteworthy for Serena in particular to comment on this incident, it's because she and her sister Venus produced King Richard, the film Will was being honored for that night. Also, the movie is literally about the two tennis champs' dad.

When Serena was asked about the incident during an interview with Gayle King for CBS Mornings, she said (via Yahoo!), "I thought it was such an incredible film, and I feel that there was an incredible film after that with Questlove that kind of was overshadowed.

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"But I also feel that I've been in a position where I've been under a lot of pressure and I've made a tremendous amount of mistakes, and I’m the kind of person that’s like, 'I've been there. I've made a mistake. It's not the end of the world.'"

She added, "We're all imperfect, and we're all human and let’s just be kind to each other. That's often forgotten a lot."

As a refresher, Will slapped Chris Rock over a joke about his wife Jada's alopecia, in which the comedian compared her to GI Jane. Will leapt on stage and slapped Rock. Once he'd sat back down, he shouted to him, "Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth."

The slap soon became the subject of much discussion. Will went on to apologize for his behavior several times, and was banned from attending the Oscars for 10 years.

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Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.