Will Smith jokes about slapping Chris Rock ahead of 2023 Oscars

Celebrities

By Brooke Steinberg

February 22, 2023 | 12:32 p.m.

If these trophies could talk…

Almost a year after the “slap heard around the world,” Will Smith appears to be poking fun at the 2022 Oscars incident in a new video on TikTok.

On Tuesday, the “Emancipation” star posted a “duet” with a TikTok user that invites other users of the app to ask an inanimate object what it thinks of you.

“It works because everything has a conscience,” reads original TikToker video caption Sam Rossi.

“You can pick up a pen and ask him how he sees you or what he thinks of you,” she continued, “and you’ll get an answer in your mind from your intuition. You can ask your car what it thinks of you, you can even ask money what it thinks of you.

In the duet, the 54-year-old actor steps off camera to land a Best Actor Oscar, which he won for his role in ‘King Richard’ at that fateful ceremony.

He looks like he’s about to ask his golden statue a question just before he ends the video – which has 112,500 likes and 1.6 million views as of Wednesday morning.

Smith slapped 94th Academy Awards host Chris Rock, 58, after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair – which Smith took as a jab at his 51-year-old wife’s struggle against alopecia. The tone-deaf comment inspired the actor to rush the stage at the Los Angeles Dolby Theater and punch Rock in the face.

The audio was cut off and blacked out for several seconds as Smith returned to his seat. But captions and lip-reading from enthralled viewers revealed his message to Rock: “Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth.”

Smith has since apologized to “Everybody Hates Chris” creator in an Instagram post, calling his actions “unacceptable and inexcusable.”

Pinkett Smith broke her silence shortly after. “My deepest hope is that these two smart, capable men will have the opportunity to heal and talk about it and reconcile,” she said during an episode of her series Red Table Talk on May 1. June 2022.

He further announced his resignation from the Academy following the outburst, with the Academy in turn promising a formal disciplinary review.

It was ultimately decided that Smith had been banned from appearing at the Academy Awards for 10 years after the incident.

The 95th Academy Awards hosted by late-night broadcaster Jimmy Kimmel will take place on March 12.