Tony Rock has claimed Will Smith lied about reaching out to Chris Rock after slapping him at the 2022 Academy Awards.
During the Oscars ceremony in March 2022, the “King Richard” actor walked onto the stage and slapped the comedian after he compared his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith – who has the medical condition alopecia – to “G.I. Jane.”
But during a recent appearance on BigBoyTV, Chris’s younger brother Tony rejected Will’s claim that he had called the comedian to apologize in the days after the incident.
“That wasn’t true, that wasn’t true,” Tony said on the radio show. “I think like, two nights later, he said, ‘I reached out to Chris, and he didn’t want to talk.’ That wasn’t true.”
Tony emphasized that he had known Will for some time but hadn’t heard from the “Men in Black” star either.
“He doesn’t owe me anything, I just thought we were better than that… My phone number has never changed,” the 48-year-old added. “So, I just thought I’d get a phone call one day like, ‘Ay, let’s just you and I just talk.’ It hasn’t happened, so I guess it’s not going to happen.”
Will has mostly steered clear of the public eye since the slap. He apologized to Academy members and his peers during his acceptance speech for Best Actor at the film event and followed it up with a lengthy apology on Instagram the next day.
The 54-year-old subsequently resigned from the Academy and was banned from attending the Oscars for 10 years.
Chris addressed the slap during his Netflix comedy special “Selective Outrage,” which aired last month.
