After Will Smith casually walked on stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock over a joke regarding his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith, actor Denzel Washington was one of the first people to talk with Smith in a bid to see if he was ok or to calm him down. Smith referenced Washington in his acceptance speech when he won Best Actor for King Richard and revealed what Washington said to him shortly after the incident. Now that we’re a little over a week since all of this went down, Washington is sharing a bit of his philosophy about the situation.
Washington appeared on Pastor T.D. Jakes Leadership Summit in Washington D.C. on Saturday and that’s when he shared a bit of his take on what happened on Oscar night, via Deadline. He didn’t go too much into specifics but he did share some of his thoughts on what might have happened with Smith in the moment:
“There’s a saying when the devil ignores you, then you know you’re doing something wrong. The devil goes, ‘Oh, no, leave him alone, he’s my favorite.’ Conversely, when the devil comes at you, maybe it’s because he’s trying to do something right. And for whatever reason, the devil got a hold of him that night.”
Washington did reveal that they prayed together on the night following the incident. Washington said, “Fortunately there were people there, not just me but others. Tyler Perry, came immediately right over there with me. Some prayers. I don’t wanna say what we talked about. But there but for the grace of God go any of us. Who are we to condemn? I don’t know all the ins and outs of this situation, but I know the only solution was prayer. The way I saw it. The way I see it.”
I think Washington approached talking about this in the best way possible because he doesn’t condone his actions but he also doesn’t want to jump on the bandwagon to condemn Smith. He thought he need prayer and guidance at that moment and that’s what he did for him as a friend.
What are YOUR thoughts on what Denzel Washington had to say about what happened with Will Smith on Oscar night?