Actor Jada Pinkett Smith has finally addressed the incident involving her husband Will Smith slapping comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars ceremony in March for poking fun at her hair loss struggle, saying she hopes that the two reconcile.
Pinkett Smith dedicated the latest episode of her talk show Red Talk Table to alopecia -- the hair loss condition with which she struggles.
Before delving into the subject, she brought up the Oscars slap incident.
"My deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out, and reconcile,” she said referring to Will Smith and Chris Rock. “The state of the world today, we need them both, and we all actually need one another more than ever."
Pinkett Smith added: “Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years, and that’s keep figuring out this thing called life together."
At the Oscar awards, Rock, a presenter, had made fun of Pinkett Smith's shaved head. “Jada, I love you. ‘GI Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it," he had said.
Soon after he made the joke, Smith, Best Actor nominee, got up from his seat and went to the stage to hit Rock -- a moment that astounded the world. The incident led to Smith being handed a 10-year ban from the awards ceremony.
Pinkett Smith said after the Oscars 2022 incident, many people struggling with alopecia had reached out to her with their stories.
Among the guests on Pinkett Smith’s show was Nicole Ball, the mother of Rio Allred -- a 12-year-old girl who took her life after enduring bullying over hair loss.
Ball, spoke about how the Oscars incident, which took place two weeks after her daughter’s death, sparked interest about alopecia.
“What is the universe doing right now? This is crazy,’” Ball said, recalling her thoughts after the incident. “People are going to be Googling, ‘What is alopecia…What is this that we’ve never heard of?’ It’s not a joke.”
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