Tonight (Oct. 13), NBC will air an interview with Jada Pinkett Smith, who is currently promoting her new memoir, “Worthy.” Before the premiere, viewers were able to check out a snippet from the sit-down that revealed a short conversation that the actress had with Chris Rock. As she explained, the comedian leaned over the stage to speak to her mere moments after being slapped by Will Smith at the 2022 Oscars.
“Chris looks to me and he says, ‘Jada, I meant no harm,'” she recalled while speaking to “TODAY” anchor Hoda Kotb. “I’m just out of it because I’m really worried about Will. And Will’s still talking. Now he’s mad because Chris is talking to me. And I go, ‘Chris, this is about some old s**t.’ That’s all I could think of saying, right? And I couldn’t really take in his apology.”
Jada also spoke on social media’s reaction to the incident, which largely painted her as a villain due to her and Will’s previous discussion on “Red Table Talk” and the bombshell revelation regarding August Alsina.
“My honest opinion on that is that narration had more to do with the false narrative that I helped to create [on that show],” she said. “The adulterous wife who forced him to go to the table and sit there, you know what I mean? And now look at what she’s done. She has the power with an eye roll to make him go up and slap somebody on stage.”
As previously reported by REVOLT, Jada told PEOPLE that, at one point in the distant past, Rock asked her out on a date amid speculation of a pending breakup from Will. “He called me and basically he was like, ‘I’d love to take you out,'” she stated. “And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He was like, ‘Well, aren’t you and Will getting a divorce?’ I was like, ‘No. Chris, those are just rumors.’ He was appalled. And he profusely apologized and that was that.”