Almost every celebrity has given their opinion about Will Smith’s on Chris Rock during the Oscars. Ever since it happened, it has been one of the most talked-about events. While some have shown their support for Will Smith, many are against him. 

And now, NBA and Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has shared his opinion on the slap. He said that with a single slap, Will Smith advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the entertainment industry, and perpetuated stereotypes about the black community.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s take

Kareem said that he understands why Will Smith didn’t find Chris Rock’s joke about Jada’s shaved head funny, but feels that worse things have been said at the Oscars. 

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Abdul-Jabbar says, “Smith’s slap was also a slap to women. If Rock had physically attacked Pinkett Smith, Smith’s intervention would have been welcome. Or if he’d remained in his seat and yelled his post-slap threat, that would have been unnecessary, but understandable. But by hitting Rock, he announced that his wife was incapable of defending herself—against words. From everything I’d seen of Pinkett Smith over the years, she’s a very capable, tough, smart woman who can single-handedly take on a lame joke at the Academy Awards show.”

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Kareem feels that the Smiths could have smiled politely or given a stare. He feels that Will Smith’s tearful award acceptance speech was worse than the slap. Kareem says that Will Smith claims he protects his women, similar to the role he played, which was just a promotion to the movie. 

Kareem thrashed Will Smith by saying that Will was exploiting these women for his own benefit and that the speech was about justifying his violence. 

Will Smith’s slap

Chris Rock was the host of the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, 2022. During Chris Rock’s presentation for Best documentary feature, Chris made a joke about Jada Pinkett’s shaved head. 

The joke wasn’t taken lightly by Will Smith because Jada started shaving her head because of alopecia. And Will walked on stage and slapped Chris Rock. Then Will Smith returned to his seat but still angry, and yelled “Keep my wife’s name out of your f*cking mouth”, twice.

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Later that evening, Will Smith won the Best Actor award and, in a tearful speech, apologized to the Academy Awards and other nominees. 

Then Will Smith issued his apology to Chris Rock via an Instagram post. He also apologized to the academy, the show’s producers, and the audiences.