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Chris Rock’s brother Kenny Rock says he doesn’t accept Will Smith’s apology and reveals the comedian was unaware of Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair loss, which she has spoken about publicly
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Chris Rock’s brother Kenny Rock says he doesn’t accept Will Smith’s apology and revealed that the comedian was unaware about Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia, which she has spoken publicly about
Chris Rock’s younger brother Kenny says if the comedian had known about Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia he would not have made a joke about her hair at the Oscars.
At the 94th annual Academy Awards on March 27, Chris, 57, presented the award for Best Documentary Feature, cracking jokes before handing out the accolade. Motioning to Jada in the audience, he said, “Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it,” comparing her shaved head to Demi Moore’s hairdo in the 1997 movie G.I. Jane. When Jada appeared unamused by the gag, Chris said, “That was a nice one!”
Moments later, Will, 53, walked onstage and struck Chris, who was initially speechless. Will shouted, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f—–g mouth!”
Jada, 50, has previously been open about living with hair loss caused by alopecia, though Chris’s brother Kenny, 42, told the Los Angeles Times Monday he wasn’t aware: “The joke was funny. It wasn’t hilarious funny, but I know that if he knew that she had alopecia … he wouldn’t make a joke about that. But he didn’t know.”
Kenny added of seeing his sibling being hit on live television, “It eats at me watching it over and over again because you’ve seen a loved one being attacked and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
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“Every time I’m watching the videos, it’s like a rendition that just keeps going over and over in my head. My brother was no threat to him and you just had no respect for him at that moment. You just belittled him in front of millions of people that watch the show,” he said.
When Will won Best Actor for King Richard soon after, he did not apologize directly to Chris in his speech, though he did the next day in a statement, admitting, “I was out of line and I was wrong.” Will explained, “Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.”
Said Kenny, “I might have looked at it differently had he initially apologized when he got on the stage and cried and accepted the award, but he didn’t, so, right there that tells me that it is something else.”