Serena Williams on Will Smith’s Chris Rock Slap: ‘We’re All Imperfect’

The television-watching world reacted with shock and disgust after actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage at the 2022 Oscars. However, to hear tennis legend Serena Williams talk about it, the whole thing doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.

To recap, Smith got on stage and smacked the taste out of Rock’s mouth after the comedian joked about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s haircut. A joke that Smith initially laughed at, by the way.

Here’s how it went down:

Later that night, Smith received the Best Actor for his performance as Venus and Serena Williams’ father, Richard Williams, in King Richard.

In an interview with CBS Mornings, Gayle King asked Williams for her thoughts about “that moment” at the Oscars Smith slapped Rock. It was the first time Williams had spoken publicly about the incident, and her comments left many scratching their heads.

“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,” Williams said. “But I also feel that I’ve been in a position where I’ve been under a lot of pressure and 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.’ We’re all imperfect, and we’re all human, and let’s just be kind to each other. So, that’s often forgotten a lot.”

Kindness is indeed “forgotten a lot.” It was undoubtedly “forgotten” by Smith as his open hand struck Rock in the face.

If you didn’t know about Smith slapping Rock and just read Williams’ comments, you could be forgiven for thinking she was referring to some mere slight or snub. Such as Smith refusing to shake Rock’s hand. Or, maybe calling him a bad comedian (which would clearly be a sign of insanity, not just rudeness).

But no, Williams actually used words like “imperfect” and “we all make mistakes” to describe something that was the actual definition of assault.

Of course, Williams and Smith no doubt have a friendly personal relationship based mainly on his Oscar-winning portrayal of her father. Still, plenty of other actors and comedians friendly to Smith were critical of his actions that night and said so publicly.

A “mistake” or “imperfection” is leaving your shopping cart in a parking spot. What Smith did in front of millions of people (or at least million of people, you never can tell with these Oscar ratings nowadays) was assault. And if Will Smith were anyone other than Will Smith, he would have been arrested for it.

I get that he’s your friend, Serena, but come on now.