It comes as little surprise that Will Smith’s three children came to his defense after he smacked Chris Rock in the middle of the live telecast at the 2022 Academy Awards.
But amid the tidal wave of denunciation of Will Smith, both inside and outside of Hollywood, there are at least two major stars who admired Smith and understood why he did what he did.
Tiffany Haddish said it “meant the world” to her to watch Smith defend his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, with such ferocity during the 2022 Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022.
“When I saw a Black man stand up for his wife, that meant so much to me,” Haddish, 42, told People magazine at the Governors Ball after-party.
“As a woman, who has been unprotected, for someone to say, ‘Keep my wife’s name out your mouth, leave my wife alone,’ that’s what your husband is supposed to do, right? Protect you.”
Haddish feels a special kinship with Pinkett Smith, who shaved her head bald after suffering from the auto-immune disease alopecia, after the two starred in the 2017 blockbuster Girls Trip. While not mentioning the slap, per se, she certainly praised Smith.
Smith walked up onstage after Rock cracked a harsh joke about Pinkett Smith’s hair loss and smacked Rock, then walked back to his seat where he twice yelled at Rock, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f—ing mouth!”
“And that meant the world to me. And maybe the world might not like how it went down, but for me, it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen because it made me believe that there are still men out there that love and care about their women, their wives,” Haddish added.
Music mogul Diddy confirmed to the media that Smith and Rock have squashed their beef and the comedian declined to press charges against the Independence Day star for assault.
Rap queen Nicki Minaj seemed to be very sympathetic to the emotions that broiled inside of Smith when he looked over and saw his wife seemed disturbed by Rock’s scathing joke at her expense.
The husband gets a front row seat to his wife’s pain… he’s the 1 consoling her… drying her tears behind closed doors when those cameras go off. Social media has made ppl feel that these “husbands” won’t ever run into them in real life. (Continued again(last time)on next tweet)
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) March 28, 2022
You just got to witness in real time what happens in a man’s soul when he looks over to the woman he loves & sees her holding back tears from a “little joke” at her expense. This is what any & every real man feels in that instant. while y’all seeing the joke he’s seeing her pain
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) March 28, 2022
Imagine what it must feel like to be losing your hair to the point where you have to shave it bald. You think that’s easy to deal with for anyone? You don’t think she’s cried about that many times? 2022 y’all gon have to see these men about those jokes you made about their wives.
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) March 28, 2022
Smith did apologize amid tears after accepting the Best Actor award for his riveting portrayal of Serena and Venus’ father Richard in the film King Richard. Watch below:
