CNN
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Will Smith opened up to Trevor Noah about his now-famous slap at the Oscars in March during an appearance on “The Daily Show,” which aired Monday night.
While promoting his next film, Liberation, Smith called it a “terrifying night” and said he “lost.” He burst onto the stage and slapped presenter Chris Rock.
“And what I mean is you never know what someone is going through.” Smith said. “I was going through something that night. It doesn’t justify my actions.”
Smith said what hurt him most was that his behavior made it “difficult for other people.”
“And I seem to understand the mindset they say that hurting people hurts them,” he said.
“It was an anger that was bottled up for a really long time,” said Smith.
Noah pointed out how Smith wrote in his memoir about growing up in fear of conflict, and the talk show host said negative things were said about Smith and his family on the Internet. I also mentioned that
“It was a lot,” Smith replied. “I was a little boy when I saw my father beat my mother. At that moment, everything bubbled up.”
Smith said he was “not who I want to be” in that moment.
In July, Smith dealt with a slap, publicly apologized on social media.
Academy sanctioned Smith by banning him from attending the Oscars for the next ten years.
