Trevor Noah interviewed Will Smith on The Daily Show Monday night (November 29th) and asked him about the night he slapped Chris Rock at the 94th annual Academy Awards. This marked Smith’s first late-night interview since the incident took place in March.
“That was a horrific night, as you can imagine. You know, there's many nuances and complexities to it. But at the end of the day, I just — I lost it, you know?” Smith said, getting emotional.
He continued, “You just never know what somebody's going through, you know?” The Men in Black actor shared that he was “going through something that night. Not that that justifies my behavior at all.”
Smith later added that he “was gone” after he attacked Rock onstage. “That was a rage that had been bottled for a really long time,” he said, referring to his childhood trauma—which he admitted was misplaced on Rock that night.