{"id":635651,"date":"2026-08-13T20:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T20:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/635651\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T20:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T20:49:12","slug":"aunjanue-ellis-taylor-defends-will-smith-oscars-slap-i-stand-by-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/635651\/","title":{"rendered":"Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Defends Will Smith Oscars Slap: ‘I Stand By That’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhen it comes to Will Smith<\/a>\u2018s shocking Oscars slap, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor<\/a> is sticking with her \u201cKing Richard\u201d co-star.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Oscar nominee, who played Smith\u2019s on-screen wife as the mother of Venus and Serena Williams in the biopic, told The Daily Beast\u2019s \u201cObsessed\u201d podcast<\/a> that she understands why Smith stormed the stage in 2022 and smacked Chris Rock after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith\u2019s shaved head.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI know that he wanted to protect his wife,\u201d Ellis-Taylor said of Smith. \u201cI stand by that. I stand with him for that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Rock made a joke comparing Pinkett Smith (who has alopecia) to G.I. Jane, Smith slapped Rock and returned to his seat, yelling, \u201cKeep my wife\u2019s name out your fucking mouth!\u201d Very shortly after, Smith won the Academy Award for best actor, but the surprise act of violence later earned him a 10-year ban from all events hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n

\n\tEllis-Taylor continued, \u201cI think that, you know, this idea that First Amendment rights should protect everybody? I don\u2019t think it should necessarily protect assholes. I don\u2019t. I don\u2019t. I really don\u2019t, especially if you\u2019re causing harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBeing from Mississippi, the actor said she is used to hearing protected speech defending the Confederate flag. \u201cI know blanket First Amendment valorization. I don\u2019t buy into that. I just don\u2019t,\u201d she added. \u201cTo say the least, it needs to be nuanced. You can\u2019t use it as an excuse to harm someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBecause it was caught on live television, the Oscars slap became a national scandal that affected Smith\u2019s career. He was banned from attending the Oscars for a decade, and his film \u201cEmancipation\u201d was delayed. <\/p>\n

\n\tSmith issued a formal apology in a video posted to social media the day after the Oscars, calling his actions \u201cunacceptable\u201d and \u201cinexcusable.\u201d He addressed Rock directly: \u201cI am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the \u201cObsessed\u201d podcast, Ellis-Taylor made a point to praise Smith for how he \u201ctook care of everybody\u201d on the set of \u201cKing Richard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe just would not allow anybody to be treated poorly in his presence. He would just not allow it. And I cannot tell you how rare that is in this job,\u201d she said. \u201cI will always have a great deal of affection and care for him because he acted that way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When it comes to Will Smith\u2018s shocking Oscars slap, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor is sticking with her \u201cKing Richard\u201d co-star.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[236612,434,18,117,19,17,23668],"class_list":["post-635651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-aunjanue-ellis-taylor","tag-celebrities","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-will-smith"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117090174026110626","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}