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‘It was a mistake’: Cedric the Entertainer defends Will Smith against cancel culture over Chris Rock's Oscars slap incident

Cedric The Entertainer believes Will Smith and Chris Rock will find peace some day but not in the near future

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Will Smith’s close friend Cedric the Entertainer, 59, feels the former should not be a victim of cancel culture for slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars. He also believes that the 'King Richard' star deserves to have a comeback in Hollywood. Cedric is also hopeful that Smith and Rock will make amends, but said that the reconciliation is not likely to happen in the near future.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Cedric mentioned that the slap was not just the result of Rock’s ‘GI Joe’ joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head on Oscars night but a pent-up frustration from a long term feud between the duo stemming from past issues spanning across several years.

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‘People are human beings and they make human mistakes’

Speaking about Smith’s actions that resulted in the actor getting banned from the Academy for 10 years, Cedric said, “People are human beings and they make human mistakes.” “So this idea of canceling people out of their lives and saying they can’t exist anymore or they shouldn't, I feel that that's a bridge too far. And it's usually done in the sense of blind internet power,” he added about Smith being a victim of cancel culture.

“It is people that have no real attachment to it, just giving an opinion for the moment, and then they jump on the wave and they create this thing that comes rushing at you that makes you look like the worst human being in the world,” ‘The Neighborhood’ star continued. “When it was a one mistake, it was a mistake,” he noted.

“For me, I think the idea of canceling people for any kind of act, if it's not doing something to children, or a woman as a man, then again, if you're just, create an act, drunk driving or adultery, all these things that people want to cancel folks for; I feel like, again, we just don't allow ourselves enough opportunity to be human,” Cedric stated.

‘There was true undertones that led to that kind of behavior’

Cedric said he also feels that Smith’s attack on Rock was not just about the latter’s one-liner joke on Jada Pinkett Smith from the Oscars but also a result of his past jokes about Jada’s career, among others. While the former said it was “weird” timing for Smith’s outburst as it happened right before he received the Oscar Award for Best Actor, Cedric also believes both Smith and Rock suffered from the now-infamous moment.

“A lot of people thought that it was the joke itself, but obviously there was true undertones that led to that kind of behavior, especially from Will Smith and from Chris Rock, to be honest,” Cedric told the Daily Mail. “Eventually as a man, there is a degree of, both of them had great falls because of that,” he added. “One had the kind of physical experience happened to them, and the other one had the repercussions of it and saw that they were seen in a different way,” the comedian continued.

“Because all of us feel like sometimes we're tough guys, you'll be like, oh, that guy said this to me. I'll do this,” Cedric shared. “But you don't know how somebody would really respond to that or if that situation would be a detriment to who you are,” he stated.

‘The lines were crossed’

Cedric told the publication that any kind of peace will “not necessarily” be established between Smith and Rock in the near future due to their existing ill feelings for each other. However, he mentioned that the stars will eventually “get through it.” “I do feel like, again, it was some things that the lines were crossed, like real lines,” the comedian said.

“I think that we would love for the world to be a place where we could just get over it and get past it. But again, when people draw lines in the sand sometimes you get those hard arguments that we're going to have to deal with and may not be ready to deal with,” he continued. “But I am encouraged that they will get to it though,” Cedric shared. “For the most part, they're going to just keep pushing through in a short period of time,” he mentioned, saying that both Smith and Rock will make peace some day.

“They'll be able to talk about it and get through it,” Cedric said. “But it's one of those things like a family argument, you just have to ease through it until somebody makes some good food and we sit down and eat,” he explained. “And then we are like ‘this is what happened. All right.’ So I believe that we are getting closer to that moment,” Cedric concluded.

Cedric the Entertainer joked about Will Smith and Chris Rock's Oscars slap incident

Back in 2022, Cedric made a joke about Smith and Rock’s slap incident while hosting the Griot Gala Oscars after-party. “Tonight to celebrate, I won’t let anybody know about talking about your wife. Don’t try to run up here, I’m smacking back! I do back smacks,” he said at the time. A video of his joke also went viral on social media last year. 

‘Violence is never the answer’

Social media users were quick to respond to Cedric’s opinion and took to Facebook to share their reactions. “To each viewer his/her own opinion. Personally, his behavior toward Chris Rock on stage was an instant in which he willfully ‘acted’ unhinged. He knew better but hit Rock in the pretense of defending his wife’s honor. BULL ! Any respect for him vanished. I’ll never meet him and my opinion is of no interest to him. But…To me, he is one actor I have zero interest in seeing again,” one user wrote.

“He put himself at a end .he can't come back from what he did I wish him luck but I don't see it happening anytime soon,” another added. “Nope. Violence is never the answer,” a third user commented.

One said, “Uh...no he doesn't. This whole incident should have been handled after the show. Will Smith committed an act of violence on national TV. Many people of all ages and backgrounds were shocked and upset after seeing this. Hollywood spends so much time trying to tell us what wonderful pacifists they are. I refuse to watch another OSCARS show with this kind of behavior going on” while another explained, “As much as I've always loved Will Smith no celebrity is *entitled* to a come back. Hollywood has been a huge supporter of cancel culture for as long as I can remember so the genie is out of the bottle now and they can't control it.”

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