Will Smith apologized to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after winning best actor.- His win came soon after he slapped Chris Rock for a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Will Smith delivered a tearful acceptance speech Sunday night for his best-actor win at the 94th Academy Awards.
Smith's win — his first Oscar — came just minutes after a shocking moment when he approached Chris Rock onstage and slapped him during the live broadcast.
Smith opened his speech by saying that Richard Williams, whom he played in "King Richard," was "a fierce protector of his family." Smith had walked onstage and slapped Rock after Rock joked that Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who has alopecia, could be in "GI Jane 2" because of her shaved head.
"I'm being called on in my life to love people," he said later in his roughly five-minute acceptance speech. "And to protect people. And to be a river to my people.
"I know to do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse. You got to be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business you got to be able to have people disrespecting you. And you have to smile and you've got to pretend that's OK."
Smith then said Denzel Washington had told him a few minutes earlier: "At your highest moment, be careful. That's when the devil comes for you."
Toward the end of his emotional monologue, Smith doled out apologies to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and his fellow nominees.
He closed the speech by saying, "Hopefully the Academy invites me back," before appearing to laugh nervously. He was met with a standing ovation from the crowd.
Watch Smith's full acceptance speech below.
—Variety (@Variety) March 28, 2022