CNN
–
Will Smith opened up to Trevor Noah about the now-famous slap at the Oscars in March during an appearance that aired Monday night on “The Daily Show.”
While promoting his upcoming film “Emancipation,” Smith called it “a terrible night” and said he “lost it” when he stormed the stage and slapped presenter Chris Rock.
“And I guess what I would say is, you never know what somebody’s going through,” Smith said. “I was going through something that night. Not that it justifies my behavior at all. ”
Smith said the saddest thing for him was that his actions made it “hard for other people.”
“And it’s like I understand the idea where they say people get hurt, people get hurt,” he said.
“It was an anger that had been bottled up for a really long time,” Smith said.
Noah described how Smith wrote in his memoir about growing up afraid of confrontation, and the talk show host also noted the negative things said about Smith and his family on the Internet.
“It was a lot of things,” Smith said in response. “It was the little boy who saw his father beat his mother, you know. It all emerged in that moment. ”
Smith said that who he was in that moment was “not who I want to be.”
In July Smith addressed the slap and issued a public apology on social media.
The Academy sanctioned Smith by barring him from attending the Oscars for the next 10 years.
