Tyler Perry Was “De-Escalating” Not Comforting Will Smith After Oscars Slap – Tribeca Festival
14.06.2022 - 01:49
/ deadline.com
Tyler Perry reluctantly opened up today about Will Smith’s Oscar slap of Chris Rock, saying he “left early to get to Chris to make sure he was okay” but felt some empathy for Smith.
In a Q&A with Gayle King at the Tribeca Festival, he took issue with media reports that he had comforted Smith — who sprinted up to Rock and belted him for joking about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head.
“There is a difference between comforting and de-escalating,” Perry told King in response to her prodding on the slap in the midst of a sweeping conversation about his life and career.
“My only problem with it is this. If I talk about it, than it become overshadowing of everything else we talked about. That will be the headline for sure,” Perry told King, who asked several times if Will Smith would keep his namesake soundstage at Tyler Perry Studios. Perry named each of the 12 stages after someone he admires.
“We can make another headline,” joked King. “I am pregnant with Tyler’s child. That’s the headline.”
Once launched, Perry continued: “I was there, close up. I left early to go and check on Chris because it was wrong in no uncertain terms and I made sure I said that to Will. He said Smith, who has been banned from the Oscar ceremony for ten years, “was devastated. He couldn’t believe what happened. He couldn’t believe he did it. And I’m looking at this man, in his eyes going, ‘What are you doing? This is your night… And to get all this way to winning an Oscar. It was one of the crowning moments of his career that he wanted so desperately.”
Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actor for King Richard.
“I think he is very much in reflection of trying to figure out what happened,” Perry said, He alluded to a section of Smith’s recent memoir