playing Venus and Serena Williams’ dad Richard in “King Richard” — it wasn’t as he planned.Earlier that night, after comedian Chris Rock insulted his wife Jada Pinkett Smith while presenting an award, Smith stormed the stage, slapped the comic and yelled “Get my wife’s name out of your f–king mouth.”The room was shocked into silence.When he won Best Actor, Smith apologized.“I know to do what we do,” he said in tears, “you gotta be able to take abuse, you gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you… You gotta smile and pretend like that’s OK.”He went on: “I want to apologize to the Academy.
I want to apologize to all the other nominees.”The wild scene leading up to his victory comes 20 years after his first Best Actor nomination, for “Ali,” and 32 years since “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” debuted on TV.The shocking moment Sunday almost felt appropriate.
Because the long-awaited win for 53-year-old Smith is the last stop of a bonkers last several months he’s endured on the way to his prestigious prize.It’s been one of the most bizarre precursors to an even more bizarre Oscar speech witnessed in recent memory.
Last fall, Smith released a memoir revealing intimate details about his sex life with wife Jada Pinkett Smith and other women.
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