Tiffany Haddish Calls Will Smith’s Slap the ‘Most Beautiful Thing I’ve Ever Seen’
Tiffany Haddish is coming to Will Smith’s defense after he slapped Chris Rock on stage during the 94th Academy Awards last night for making fun of Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved bald head. Haddish, 42, co-starred with Pinkett Smith in the comedy film Girls Trip.
“When I saw a Black man stand up for his wife. That meant so much to me,” Haddish told People magazine after the Oscars. “As a woman, who has been unprotected, for someone to say like, ‘Keep my wife’s name out your mouth, leave my wife alone,’ that’s what your husband is supposed to do, right? Protect you. And that meant the world to me. And maybe the world might not like how it went down, but for me, it was the most beautiful thing I ever seen because it made me believe that there are still men out there that love and care about their women, their wives.”
“And that’s their friend,” Haddish added of Rock. “As a friend, why would you do that? He didn’t even run the joke by her, but she was hurt, though. If she wouldn’t have been hurt, he probably wouldn’t have said nothing. But you could see he was clearly … And they exploited it. They exploited her, so … He protected his wife. To me, I went up to her and said, ‘You better s– his d— from the back, girl!’ You better put that in your magazine! That’s what I told her.”
Haddish told People that Pinkett Smith appreciated her husband’s actions, saying that Smith is doing “fine.”
The Academy reacted to the slap by issuing the following statement: “The Academy does not condone violence of any form. Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.”
Smith won the best actor Oscar for King Richard following the incident with Rock. During his tearful acceptance speech, Smith apologized to the Academy and his fellow nominees but not to Rock.
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