Chris Rock's brother Kenny wants Will Smith's Oscar revoked, calls apology NOT genuine
Chris Rock's brother Kenny Rock blasted Will Smith and the Academy, saying his brother was not aware of Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia prior to making a joke at the Oscars about her bald head while presenting the documentary feature category. Will Smith came up on stage and slapped Chris as a reaction to the joke.
“The joke was funny. It wasn’t hilariously funny, but I know that if he knew that she had alopecia… he wouldn’t make a joke about that. But he didn’t know,” Kenny said in an interview with LA Times. The night after the Oscars, Will apologized to Chris, but Kenny told he didn't believe it was genuine. He said, “No, I don’t accept it because I don’t think it was genuine. I think his publicist and the people that work under him probably advised him to do that.”
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“It eats at me watching it over and over again because you’ve seen a loved one being attacked and there’s nothing you can do about it. Every time I’m watching the videos, it’s like a rendition that just keeps going over and over in my head. My brother was no threat to him and you just had no respect for him at that moment. You just belittled him in front of millions of people that watch the show,” he added. Kenny also slammed the Academy for not removing Will from the Oscar ceremony immediately after the slap. He remarked, “He should have been escorted out of there. I hold them accountable for that. He could have went up there and did anything you wanted to my brother. It could have been much worse than what he did.”
Meanwhile, various reports have claimed that Oscars co-producer Will Packer stated he did not push the Academy to physically remove Will since that was not what Chris intended. Will stayed at the event and was awarded the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of 'King Richard' around 40 minutes after the slap. In his best actor-winning speech, Will apologized to the Academy for the incident, although he did not apologize to Chris directly at the time. Kenny Rock told LA Times, “I might have looked at it differently had he initially apologized when he got on the stage and cried and accepted the award, but he didn’t, so, right there that tells me that it is something else.” He urged the Academy to take away his Oscar and ban him from attending future award ceremonies.
On April 1, Smith resigned from the Academy saying, “I betrayed the trust of the Academy. I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work. I am heartbroken.”