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Zoe Kravitz has expressed regret for publicly denouncing Will Smith after he slapped Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars in March.
At the time, Zoe, 33, posted an Instagram picture of herself at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party and wrote: ‘and here is a picture of my dress at the party after the award show -where we are apparently screaming profanities and assaulting people on stage now.’
However, in a new interview, she told the Wall Street Journal: ‘I’m torn about what to say right now, because I’m supposed to just talk about it; I have very complicated feelings around it. I wish I had handled that differently. And that’s okay.’
Rethinking: Zoe Kravitz has expressed regret for publicly denouncing Will Smith after he slapped Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars in March; pictured on Oscar night
Zoe added: ‘It’s a scary time to have an opinion or to say the wrong thing or to make controversial art or statements or thoughts or anything.’
She continued: ‘It’s mostly scary because art is about conversation. That should, in my opinion, always be the point. The internet is the opposite of conversation. The internet is people putting things out and not taking anything in.’
When Zoe first lambasted Will over the Oscars slap in March, she received a deluge of online backlash from his defenders.
Some noted that when Will’s son Jaden was 15 and Zoe was 25, she told Extra that he was her ‘date’ at a red carpet event and jokingly called him the ‘love of my life.’
Remember when: Will slapped Chris onstage at the Oscars this March for making a bald joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who shaved her head because she has alopecia
As the fury against Zoe mounted online this March, netizens unearthed a 2013 V magazine article where she gushed about how ‘handsome’ Jaden was at 14.
Zoe, the daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet, had just acted with Jaden and Will in a science-fiction megaflop called After Earth.
‘There were moments that I was hanging out with Jaden and thinking, I can’t believe you’re 14, I have to check myself, like what I say to you,’ Zoe told the magazine.
‘He has so much personality and so much swag, he is so much cooler than I am. And he’s so handsome, I was always like, when you’re older, you know, we’ll hang out…Nope, that’s inappropriate, you’re 14.’
Forthright: Zoe pointedly posted a snap of Oscars red carpet dress and wrote: ‘here’s a picture of my dress at the show where we are apparently assaulting people on stage now’
Will slapped Chris onstage at the Oscars this March for making a bald joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who shaved her head because she has alopecia.
‘Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see it,’ Chris cracked, in reference to the 1997 movie starring Demi Moore with a shaved head.
Will was seen initially laughing at the joke, but Jada rolled her eyes and he stormed onto the stage to give Chris a smack across the face.
Then Will flounced back to his seat and repeatedly screamed at Chris: ‘Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth!’
No uncertain terms: ‘And here is a picture of my dress at the party after the award show -where we are apparently screaming profanities and assaulting people on stage now,’ she added
Less than an hour after his outburst, Will was awarded the best actor Oscar and received a standing ovation for his tearful speech in which he called himself a protector of his family and expressed a desire to be a ‘vessel of love.’
Although he apologized to the Academy and his fellow nominees during his speech, he did not issue a public apology to Chris until the following day.
After the awards, he went to the Vanity Fair Oscar Party and danced to his own song Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It while other partygoers cheered him on.
Zoe pointedly posted a snap of Oscars red carpet dress and wrote: ‘here’s a picture of my dress at the show where we are apparently assaulting people on stage now.’
‘I’ve reached out to Chris’: At the end of July he issued an agonizing apology video for his ‘unacceptable’ conduct at the Oscars and confirmed that Chris was ‘not ready to talk’
She then posted her Vanity Fair party dress and added: ‘And here is a picture of my dress at the party after the award show -where we are apparently screaming profanities and assaulting people on stage now.’
When an Instagram user asked in her comments: ‘You don’t support him defending his wife?’ Zoe flatly replied: ‘nope.’
Before the Academy could decide what punishment it should impose for the incident, Will resigned from the organization.
Although his departure meant he could no longer vote for the Oscars, he at that point was still able to attend the show.
As seen on the red carpet: Will was seen initially laughing at the joke, but Jada rolled her eyes and he stormed onto the stage to give Chris a smack across the face
However the Academy has since imposed a 10-year ban on his attending the ceremony, though he can still be nominated for an win Oscars.
Jada finally addressed the slap in June on an alopecia-themed episode of her show Red Table Talk, urging Will and Chris to patch up their differences.
She said: ‘Now about Oscar night, my deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out and reconcile.’
‘Reconcile’: Jada finally addressed the slap in June on an alopecia-themed episode of her show Red Table Talk, urging Will and Chris to patch up their differences
Meanwhile, a month after the slap, Will surfaced in India, where a People source said he was planning to meditate, do yoga and focus on spirituality.
At the end of July he issued an agonizing apology video for his ‘unacceptable’ conduct at the Oscars and confirmed that Chris was ‘not ready to talk.’
Chris has performed stand-up on tour since the Oscars, but has largely refrained from discussing the slap, saying onstage during one show in April: ‘I’m OK, I have a whole show and I’m not talking about that until I get paid.’