It has been a year already since Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage during the 2022 Academy Awards. And still, people continue to bring it back, talking, commenting, and mentioning it again and again. Even actor Sean Penn commented about it in an interview recently.
The infamous slap incident

And yet again, Chris Rock’s close friend and fellow comedian Leslie Jones spoke up about the incident, revealing some astounding details about Rock. She talked about the impact the incident had on the Grown Ups star and his family.

Leslie Jones Speaks Up About The Will Smith Chris Rock Incident

Leslie Jones with Chris Rock
Leslie Jones has been friends with Chris Rock for a long time. And watching her friend, whom she often refers to as her ‘brother’ get smacked in the face live in front of millions of viewers at a ceremony like the Oscars, was more than she could handle. In a recent interview with People, Jones stated,
“It made me so infuriated. You don’t know that I was going to jump in my car and roll up there. I was so f**king mad on so many levels.”
Even in her memoir titled Lesle F**king Jones, the star recalled the deep relationship she shared with Chris Rock since the first time they crossed paths in the mid-90s. So witnessing the incident live at home, hurt her deeply.
“For a long a** time I was just mad. Chris Rock did a f**king joke. know Will, too… I was like, you couldn’t handle that sh*t afterwards. This is the Oscars. The whole world is watching. I was like, ‘Chris, when he got up why didn’t you run?’, I would’ve been running around that stage like ‘Will, calm down. Jada, call your man!’”

Jones even remarked that Will Smith could have fixed the whole thing had he apologized or even rejected the Oscar that he received just moments after the incident.

Leslie Jones Reveals Chris Rock And Family Suffered Terribly After The Incident

Rock with his two daughters
Watching a family member get slapped on-screen, live at one of the biggest stages of the world is a hard moment that would most certainly leave one scarred for the rest of their lives. And being the one getting slapped all because of a small joke in front of millions of people is humiliating on another level. Talking about her good friend Chris Rock and the effect the incident had on him, Leslie Jones stated while talking to People,
“That sh*t was humiliating. It really affected him. People need to understand his daughters, his parents, saw that. He had to go to counseling with his daughters.”
Despite the struggles and humiliation, Jones expressed she is proud of Rock for handling the situation as well as he did and having the courage to address it on stage.