Jada Pinkett Smith recalls Chris Rock's apology after Oscar-slap incident

Chris Rock allegedly attempted to apologise shortly after the contentious Will Smith-Oscars affair, according to Jada Pinkett Smith.

Chris, 58, cracked a joke about Jada's shorn head while onstage presenting an award at the 2022 Academy Awards. Will, 55, was offended by the remark and shouted at Chris from his seat before going over to the comic and punching him in the face live on stage.

In a detailed interview with People magazine, 52-year-old Worthy author Jada said that Chris approached her just after there was a break in the show.

"Chris came down to the end of the stage and tried to apologize to me," she recalls. "He said, ‘I didn't mean you any harm.’ I said, ‘I can't talk about this now, Chris. This is some old s**t.’ "

"I’ve got to leave that to Will and Chris to talk about, but they got their stuff for sure," adds Jada.

Jada recalls the slap that at first she "thought it was a skit" since she was so taken aback.

"From where I was sitting I couldn't tell. It didn't look like Will hit Chris, because, number one, I'd seen Will in the boxing ring with pro fighters — Will's a heavy-hitter," she says.

"So when Chris moved, it looked like he ducked or he missed the shot. And when he continued to stand, and then when he continued to walk down to the end of the stage, I was like, ‘There's no way. There's no way that Will hit him.’”

“It wasn't until Will started to walk back to his chair that I even realized it wasn't a skit," adds Jada. "I was in as much of a fog as anybody else in that room that night.”