Serena Williams‘ first coach- her father Richard Williams aka King Richard has seen a lot of ups and downs in his life. While the former tennis coach had his biopic nominated for the Oscars, an unfortunate incident overshadowed the film’s success. Will Smith, who plays King Richard slapped Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards. Finally, King Richard himself takes a stance in the controversy.

As King Richard’s son Chavoita LeSane says, their father is not a violent man and believes in taking the high road. King Richard himself, however, has a very interesting response to the whole slap gate debacle. He is strangely calm about the whole issue and even throws in a few jokes to lighten the situation.

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While talking to the Sun in an exclusive interview, King Richard and his son were asked about what they thought of Will Smith’s actions at the Oscars. Most importantly, does Richard bear any resentment towards the actor for ruining his moment?

To that Richard tells the Sun, “I don’t really watch Oscars and stuff. I’m not the big ceremony guy. So I think I saw it on YouTube or something.”

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Due to his fragile health, Williams who was 79 at the time was not at the Awards. Also, he prefers to live a quiet life, away from the glamour and fame.

Chavoita takes on the lead and says, “I showed it to my dad on YouTube. I don’t think he understood it at first, and then he got the gravity of it.”

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“I think he was thinking Chris Rock must have done something really bad to Will,” Chavoita says, revealing his father’s simple mindset.

Chavoita also reveals that he himself did not grasp the seriousness of the situation immediately.

“At first, I definitely thought it was a joke. I said, ‘Ah, it’s a prank. They just want some attention or something.’ I thought it was fake at first. I thought it was staged.”

Richard Williams is rather calm and happy to talk about Will Smith, just like his daughter Serena did recently. He does not judge his actions at the Oscar and thinks it is great that he apologized. Williams is also full of gratitude to Will Smith for his wonderful portrayal of their family.

Off-screen King Richard has never met his alter-ego on-screen

Due to his health and the distance between their locations, King Richard admits that he has never met Will Smith. The tennis coach jokes and says that if he ever has a chance to meet Smith, he would just ask him to slap his face.

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However, Williams says that he wants to meet Will Smith sooner than ever and thank him for his wonderful work on the film.