Kenny Rock, comedian Chris Rock‘s brother, has called for King Richard actor Will Smith to be stripped of his award following the slap at the 2022 Oscars.
In an interview with the LA Times, Kenny elaborated further on how it felt to see his brother assaulted for his joke during the time presenting the award for Best Documentary Film explaining that he first saw it on social media.
“It eats at me watching it over and over again because you’ve seen a loved one being attacked and there’s nothing you can do about it. Every time I’m watching the videos, it’s like a rendition that just keeps going over and over in my head. My brother was no threat to him and you just had no respect for him at that moment. You just belittled him in front of millions of people that watch the show.”
Kenny went on further to call for Smith to lose the Oscar he received later in the show for Best Actor in Leading Role. Following the incident, no action was taken against Smith, and as of yet none has been, hover, the Academy is conducting a review.
The Rock brother believes that following the incident Smith should have been immediately escorted out of the venue explaining that something much worse could have happened and that he holds the Academy accountable.
Smith’s actions came after Chris Rock had made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hairstyle during his presenter’s speech. Kenny said Chris hadn’t known about her suffering from alopecia, and if he did he wouldn’t have made the joke.
Following the event, Smith eventually apologised to Chris Rock, but Kenny says that he feels it wasn’t genuine.
“No, I don’t accept it because I don’t think it was genuine. I think his publicist and the people that work under him probably advised him to do that.”
