In news that you very well may have heard about, back in March, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars. A footnote from that moment, though, is that Rock was on stage to give Questlove the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, for Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised), a win that was of course overshadowed by what preceded it.
Well, today, Smith shared a video in which he apologizes to Rock and also to Questlove (who, like Smith, is a Philadelphia hip-hop icon). In the five-minute video posted on Smith’s YouTube channel, an upload titled “It’s been a minute…” that takes the form of a Q&A, Smith said of Questlove:
“To all my fellow nominees: You know, this is a community. It’s like, I won because you voted for me, and it really breaks my heart to have stolen and tarnished your moment. I can still see Questlove’s eyes. It happened on Questlove’s award, and… you know… it’s like, ‘I’m sorry’ really isn’t sufficient.”
Questlove hasn’t publicly said much about the incident. Shortly after it happened, he shared a tweet from somebody else that read, “I think the whole Will Smith assault rattled @questlove who had to give a speech like 90 seconds later. He couldn’t even remember the names of his co-winners. #Oscars.”
Meanwhile, Joseph Patel, one of Questlove’s Summer Of Soul co-producers, wrote in part around the same time, “Once we realized the Chris Rock/Will Smith interaction wasn’t a bit, everything got turned upside down. Everyone was still trying to make sense of it when Chris persevered & started to read the nominees. I think what Will did was selfish. It robbed the category of its moment. It robbed the other excellent and amazing films of their moment to be acknowledged in what was a STRONG year for docs. And it robbed Summer of Soul and our team of our moment. Of a loud, enthusiastic cheer for a celebrated film. I feel bad for Ahmir. I feel bad for my fellow producers. I feel bad for our whole team. I feel bad for all the people watching and rooting for us. “