One of the biggest nights in Hollywood, the Oscars, saw a surprising turn back in 2022. When Chris Rock joked about Jada Pinkett Smith, her husband, Will Smith got enraged and slapped the host in the middle of the event. Since then, the industry’s most successful actors faced backlash. The Academy even banned the star from attending any events for 10 years. Not only did the incident break the bond between the two long-term friends, but it also affected many people’s perceptions of the 54-year-old actor.

While Rock needs more time to heal from the traumatic experience, his close friend, Leslie Jones, recently opened up about her thoughts on the incident. She revealed how it affected her friend and made her furious as well.

Leslie Jones defended Chris Rock and condemned Will Smith for his actions

After the infamous slapping incident in 2022, the Men in Black actor publically apologized to his friend. However, it did not ease the pain for him. Recently, Leslie Jones opened up about her upcoming memoir, Leslie F*cking Jones, which would take the readers deeper into her journey. To promote her memoir, Jones sat with People where she revealed how enraged she felt when she saw it happening on her TV at home. “It made me so infuriated,” admitted the comedian.

Furthermore, she revealed Chris Rock was like a brother to her. The 56-year-old artist threw light on how he pushed her to pursue her dream while staying always right beside her. The stand-up comedian also revealed Rock had to go to counseling sessions with her daughter. Condemning the Fresh Prince star’s actions, she revealed, Smith should have thought about Rock’s family. The host of the Supermarket Sweep also revealed she confronted the 58-year-old artist after circumstance.

While it broke her heart to see the strangled relationship between these two celebrities, she praised The Week Of actor for getting back up. After recovering from the horrible incident, Chris Rock came back with a comedy special, Selective Outrage on Netflix. She said comedians would not hide their emotions and go crazy. They would get on the stage and talk about it. While appreciating the Top Five star, Jones also pointed out how differently Smith could have handled the situation.

What did Leslie Jones think about the Oscar-winning actor’s way of handling the chaos?

When the Bad Boys actor got up and reacted to the joke, everyone was startled. However, later in the event, he also won the Best Actor Award for his performance in King Richard. According to Jones, Smith should not have accepted the award after what he did to the host. Instead, he should have called him back and admitted his mistake.

Even during his award acceptance speech, she wished the actor had addressed his actions and accepted his mistake. Not only Leslie Jones, but Mila Kunis also condemned the incident and called out the award attendees for applauding Will Smith as he received the award.

While after the incident, Will Smith has been trying to move on in his life, it seems, there are people in the industry who still need more time to calm their anger. What are your thoughts about Leslie Jones’ confessions? Tell us in the comments below.