By Zoë Kravitz has expressed regret for comments she made about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock in the face at this year’s Oscars.
During the ceremony, Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, while he was presenting an award. The outburst led to months of fallout for Best Actor-winner Will Smith, who resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was banned from attending Academy events for 10 years.
Following the infamous slap, Zoë Kravitz posted a photo of herself on Instagram from the Oscars red carpet and wrote, “Here’s a picture of my dress at the show where we are apparently assaulting people on stage now.” Kravitz also responded “nope” when one commenter asked if she supported Smith’s actions.
Kravitz responded to her initial reaction in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal;
“I’m torn about what to say right now, because I’m supposed to just talk about it; I have very complicated feelings around it,” she said. “I wish I had handled that differently. And that’s okay.”
Kravitz’ post sparked backlash on social media from Will Smith supporters which resulted in her to delete the post.
“It’s a scary time to have an opinion or to say the wrong thing or to make controversial art or statements or thoughts or anything,” Kravitz told WSJ. “It’s mostly scary because art is about conversation. That should, in my opinion, always be the point. The internet is the opposite of conversation. The internet is people putting things out and not taking anything in.”
However, she added that the moment reminded her that she’s an artist. “Being an artist is not about everybody loving you or everyone thinking you’re hot. It’s about expressing something that will hopefully spark a conversation or inspire people or make them feel seen. I think I’m in a place right now where I don’t want to express myself through a caption or a tweet. I want to express myself through art.” she said.
Image: FilmMagic and BBC
