American actor Will Smith said his “pent-up” anger led him to slap comedian Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars in March.
Smith gave an interview for the first time since the accident, describing that night as “terrible”.
Smith appeared Monday night on an episode of The Daily Show to promote his upcoming movie, “Emancipation,” which is set to be shown next week, making him eligible to participate in next year’s Oscars season.
Smith, who won Best Actor this year following the slap, said the idea that his new film might be damaged during the upcoming awards season by slapping Chris Rock was “killing him”.
“I was going through something that night,” Smith added, but stressed that it “doesn’t justify my behavior at all.”
He said there were “many circumstances and complications. I lost my mind.”
Smith stormed the stage at the Oscars following Rock made a joke regarding Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett, who suffers from hair loss.
“I understand how shocking that was.”
Smith had previously said that his wife had not asked him to confront Rock.
“I guess what I’m going to say is you never know what someone’s going through,” he said, without elaborating what he was referring to.
The interview with Smith on the US late-night television talk show marked the first time Smith had spoken publicly regarding slapping a rock.
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“I understand how traumatic that was for people… I just kind of lost my mind. It was pent-up anger for a really long time,” Smith said.
“It was a terrible night, as you can imagine.”
In July, Smith posted a video to YouTube answering questions fans appeared to have written regarding the Oscars. Smith had only previously issued written statements regarding the altercation.
Smith, 54, has been banned from attending the Academy Awards for 10 years and has resigned from the Academy that organizes the ceremony.
And the actor said, in response to a question regarding what he would say to his critics who believe that it is too early to promote his new movie, he said: “I fully understand that some are not ready for this.”
“I will fully respect that and understand that they are not ready,” he added.
He said, “My deepest concern is my team. The people on this team have done some of the best work of their entire careers, and I hope you don’t punish my team for what I did.”
