By Ryan Steal
Rosalie “Rose” Rock, Chris Rock’s mom, spoke out for the first time on Friday about Will Smith smacking her son onstage during this year’s Academy Awards.
Rose discussed the incident at the Oscars, in which Smith struck her son on the stage after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head, in an exclusive interview with WIS-Billie TV’s Jean Shaw in South Carolina (Pinkett Smith has alopecia).
Rose informed the source that she didn’t go to the Oscars on March 27 and instead watched it from home. She initially believed the slap was orchestrated until Smith “started using obscenities,” she told WIS-TV.
“When he slapped Chris, he slapped all of us,” Rose claimed, adding, “he really slapped me.”
Rose, a motivational speaker from Andrews, South Carolina, was in Columbia to speak at high schools.
“You reacted to your wife giving you the side-eye and you went and made her day because she was bowled over laughing when it happened,” Rose said of Smith.
Chris was ecstatic to present the prize for best documentary feature to Questlove, who entered the stage following the slap, according to Rose. She told the broadcaster that she believes Smith’s outburst robbed her of that moment: “His speech was completely unheard. No one could just be in the moment because everyone was wondering, “What just happened?””
Rose claimed she called her son after seeing the incident on TV and told him she was proud of how he handled the issue.
Following the reprimand, Smith was barred from attending Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences events for a period of ten years. When asked about the Academy’s penalty, Rose stated that she does not believe Smith’s prize should be taken away and that she does not “see any good way” Smith could have been removed from the ceremony without interrupting it.
She expressed her regret, saying, “I feel bad really that he never apologized. I mean his people wrote up a piece saying I apologize to Chris Rock, but you see something like that is personal, you reach out.”
