Ghostbusters (2016) actor Leslie Jones told the whole world how mad she was after she watched actor Will Smith smack standup comedian Chris Rock across his face during last year’s Oscars. The exclusive piece came from PEOPLE as they covered the release of Jones’ memoir, Leslie F*cking Jones, set to come out on September 19.
She revealed that Smith’s act left Rock incredibly devastated and he had to go to counseling along with his daughters. Though the comedian absorbed the slap while he was on the stage, reports said that he wasn’t able to come to terms with the controversy.
The Oscars slapgate controversy broke the internet, but for those who may not know, Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, wherein he compared her to Ridley Scott’s G.I. Jane (1997) actress Demi Moore. Pinkett Smith’s shaved head resembled that of Moore’s character and Rock’s comment on that riled up Will Smith.
Leslie Jones Revealed Chris Rock Underwent Counseling
Her memoir has revealed that her friendship with Chris Rock goes back to the mid-90s and that he’s always been there as a brother to help her out in shaping her standup career. The whole world saw Rock getting smacked, and that, as she claimed, “really affected him.”
“That s–t was humiliating. It really affected him,” she said to PEOPLE. “People need to understand his daughters, his parents, saw that. He had to go to counseling with his daughters.”
But she confessed her happiness about Rock being able to take his pain to the stage on this year’s Netflix special, Selective Outrage. “Everybody got pissed off about him doing a special. That’s what comedians do,” she added.
Leslie Jones Said Will Smith Could Have Fixed It
Will Smith won his first Oscar for King Richard in the Best Actor category, and Leslie Jones wasn’t happy about it. Revealing that she knows Smith as well, Jones said that he should have handled the situation. She was watching it all from her home and said, “I was so f—ing mad on so many levels.”
Further commenting about it to PEOPLE, she said –
“I know Will, too… I was like, you couldn’t handle that s–t afterward? This is the Oscars. The whole world is watching. He could have still fixed it.”
Her most recent work includes Eddie Murphy-led Coming 2 America in 2021, alongside Wesley Snipes and James Earl Jones.
Coming 2 America can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: PEOPLE
