{"id":1172644,"date":"2022-08-10T09:19:37","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T09:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/08\/10\/will-smith-praised-for-public-apology\/"},"modified":"2022-08-10T09:19:37","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T09:19:37","slug":"will-smith-praised-for-public-apology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/08\/10\/will-smith-praised-for-public-apology\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Smith praised for public apology"},"content":{"rendered":"
Oscars producer Will Packer has praised Will Smith for his public apology to Chris Rock.<\/p>\n
The \u201cKing Richard\u201d star caused a sensation at the Academy Awards ceremony in March when he stormed the stage to smack the comedian after he made fun of the actor\u2019s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Last month, he said sorry for his \u201cunacceptable\u201d behaviour.<\/p>\n
And the \u201cMen in Black\u201d actor has been praised by Packer, who headed this year\u2019s Oscars, for being \u201ctransparent\u201d about his \u201cpersonal rehabilitation\u201d.<\/p>\n
He told \u2018Entertainment Tonight\u2019: \u201cI love the fact that he\u2019s being so transparent about his process. Clearly, he is going through his own personal rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pulling for him. I\u2019m pulling for him to continue his own process, but I think this is for him. He needs to do it. I\u2019m wishing you the best, brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201cBeast\u201d producer declined to say if he\u2019d spoken to either star since the incident, but insisted he wasn\u2019t taking sides.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI would just say I love both of those brothers and I\u2019m pulling for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the attention the row received at the time, Packer is \u201cvery prideful\u201d of what he and his team achieved with their delivery of this year\u2019s Oscars, which was hosted by Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer and Regina Hall.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cPeople always talk about that (slap), but I hope that, over time, people will realise it was an energetic, diverse, history-making Oscars ceremony. A lot of energy went into it. I\u2019m very prideful of it.\u201d<\/p>\nPresenter Chris Rock, left, reacts after being hit on stage by Will Smith while presenting the award for best documentary feature at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
When he apologised last month, Smith, who resigned from the Academy in the wake of the row and was subsequently banned from the Oscars and all the organisation\u2019s events for 10 years, blamed being \u201cfogged out\u201d and \u201cfuzzy\u201d for not saying sorry to the \u2018Top 5\u2019 star at the time.<\/p>\n
He added in a question and answer session which he said was filled with \u201cfair\u201d questions from fans: \u201cI\u2019ve reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he\u2019s not ready to talk. When he is, he will reach out. So I will say to you, Chris, I apologise to you.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy behaviour was unacceptable and I\u2019m here whenever you\u2019re ready to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also apologised to Rocks\u2019 mother and entire family, saying: \u201cI just didn\u2019t realise how many people got hurt in that moment, so I want to apologise to Chris\u2019s mother. I want to apologise.\u201d<\/p>\n