Chris Rock's Mom Speaks Out on The Slap

Will Smith 'really slapped me,' says Rose Rock
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 24, 2022 10:15 AM CDT
Chris Rock's Mom: Will Smith 'Really Slapped Me'
A 2009 photo of Chris Rock and his mother, Rose Rock.   (AP Photo/Peter Kramer)

Chris Rock himself says he's still "processing" the slap he received from Will Smith. His brother has been more vocal in speaking out against Smith. And now the comedian's mother is weighing in publicly for the first time. “When he slapped Chris, he slapped all of us,” Rose Rock tells South Carolina station WIS-TV. "He really slapped me.” Rose Rock says she initially thought it was a stunt—until Smith started using obscenities. And one thing that rankles her is that Smith did not reach out personally to her son to apologize.

“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," she says. Smith has been losing film projects since the slap—he's also been banned from Academy events for a decade—though People notes that he appeared in public for the first time Saturday at a small airport in Mumbai, India. He seemed to be in "good spirits" as he posed for photos with fans, per the site. The appearance came after National Geographic announced it was canceling a nature series called Pole to Pole that was to feature the actor, per Collider. (More Chris Rock stories.)

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