The mother of Chris Rock, Rose Rock, spoke to WIS-TV on Friday and addressed her son being slapped at the Oscars ceremony by Will Smith following a joke about the latter’s wife.
She said “when Will slapped Chris, he slapped all of us. He really slapped me. Because when you hurt my child, you hurt me.”
She then revealed that she had initially thought the slap was staged and part of the show, until Smith started shouting vulgarities at Rock.
The older Rock further added that “You reacted to your wife giving you the side-eye, and you went up, and you made her day because she was bowled over laughing when it happened.”
She also added that Smith could’ve been in handcuffs (arrested) for his actions.
Rose also took offence to the incident overshadowing Questlove, who won Best Documentary Feature after the incident, which Rock was on stage to present at the time he got slapped.
She said that “no one even heard his speech. No one was able to just be in the moment because everyone was sitting there like, ‘What just happened?’”
She also added that she was proud of her son for how he reacted to the assault, as he went on to present the award to Questlove.
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Image source: Chris Rock Instagram and The Academy Awards