By Mark Kennedy, Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Will Smith has again apologized to Chris Rock for slapping him during the Oscar telecast in a new video, saying that his behavior was "unacceptable" and that he had reached out to the comedian to discuss the incident but was told Rock wasn't ready.
"There is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment," Smith said in the under-six minute video posted online Friday. "I am deeply remorseful and I'm trying to be remorseful without being ashamed of myself." To Rock, he said: "I'm here whenever you're ready to talk."
Smith, seated in a polo shirt and white ball cap, spoke directly to a camera, answering pre-selected questions about his behavior at the March 27 Academy Awards, when he slapped presenter Rock after the comedian made a reference about the hairstyle of Jada Pinkett Smith, Smith's wife.
Smith also apologized to Rock's family and especially his mother, Rosalie, who was horrified to see her son hurt and told US Weekly that, "When he slapped Chris, he slapped all of us. He really slapped me." Smith also apologized to Tony Rock, Chris' younger brother.
"I didn't realize how many people got hurt in that moment," Smith said.
Smith also apologized to his family "for the heat that I brought on all of us" and his fellow Oscar nominees to have "stolen and tarnished your moment." He mentioned Questlove by name; it was the musician-director's documentary win for "Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)" that was interrupted by the slap. Rock was on stage to present the documentary award.
Smith also said his wife did nothing to encourage his slap. "Jada had nothing to do with it," he said. "I made a choice on my own." Pinkett Smith has said that she has alopecia areata, a hair-loss disorder.
Following the altercation, the motion picture academy banned Smith from attending the Oscars or any other academy event for 10 years. Smith apologized to Rock in a statement after the Oscars, saying he was "out of line and I was wrong."
"I'm sorry really isn't sufficient," Smith said in the video, adding that he is hurting because he hasn't lived up to fans' impressions. "Disappointing people is my central trauma."
Many had speculated that Smith would appear on camera to discuss the slap first on Pinkett Smith's online series "Red Table Talk," but he chose to do it in a social media video post without any follow-up questions or surprise queries.
Source: YouTube
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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