"Deeply remorseful": Will Smith addresses Oscars slap in new video
Will Smith is "deeply remorseful" about slapping Chris Rock on stage during this year's Oscar's ceremony.
Smith posted a video to his verified Instagram account on Friday that began with the words on screen, "It's been a minute."
"Over the last few months, I've been doing a lot of thinking and personal work...," the statement reads. "You asked a lot of fair questions that I wanted to take some time to answer."
Smith can be heard sighing, then enters the screen and addresses to camera why he didn't apologize to Rock during his Oscars acceptance speech following his win for best actor for his role in "King Richard."
"I was fogged out by that point," Smith said. "It's all fuzzy. I've reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he's not ready to talk and when he is, he will reach out. So I will say to you Chris, I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable and I'm here whenever you are ready to talk."
CNN has reached out to representatives for Rock for comment.
Smith also apologized to Rock's mother, family and his brother,Tony Rock, who had starred in the 2007 sitcom "All of Us," which was created by Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.
"We had a great relationship," Smith said. "Tony Rock was my man and this is probably irreparable."
Smith walked onstage at the awards show and slapped Chris Rock, who was presenting at the time, after he made a joke about Smith's wife's shaved head.
Jada Pinkett Smith suffers hair loss due to alopecia, an autoimmune condition that can lead to hair loss.
Smith answered the question as to whether or not his wife, after rolling her eyes at Rock's joke, had asked him to do something by saying she had not.
He also apologized to her, their children, and his fellow Academy Award nominees.
Smith said he "spent the last three months replaying an understanding the nuance and complexity of what happened in that moment."
"I'm not going to try to unpack all of that right now, but I can say to all of you, there is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment," he said. "No part of me that thinks that is the optimal way to handle a feeling of disrespect or insult."