Jada Pinkett Smith Finally Broke Her Silence About That Infamous Oscars Slap—And Fans Are Divided

After more than two months of silence on the now infamous incident, actor Jada Pinkett Smith has finally spoken out about the now infamous incident in which her husband actor Will Smith slapped Chris Rock during the live broadcast of the Oscars in March.

And fans are pointedly divided on her perspective.

Pinkett Smith's comments came during a recent episode of her Facebook talk show Red Table Talk, in which she used the incident and the baldness joke of Rock's that sparked it to talk about the hair loss condition alopecia, from which she suffers.

And while some applauded her for using the incident to raise awareness for an important cause, others felt she was cleverly evading the Oscars incident by shifting the topic to her condition.

See her Red Table Talk segment below.

Joined as usual by daughter Willow and mother Adrienne Banfield Norris, Pinkett Smith's panel also included Nicole Ball, whose 12-year-old daughter Rio died by suicide just two weeks before the Oscars after relentless bullying over her alopecia-related baldness.

Pinkett Smith only obliquely referenced the Oscars incident at first, instead focusing on the hair loss condition.

She said:

"This is a really important Red Table Talk on alopecia."

"Considering what I've been through with my own health and what happened at the Oscars, thousands have reached out to me with their stories."

"I'm using this moment to give our alopecia family an opportunity to talk about what it's like to have this condition and to inform people about what alopecia actually is." 

Later in the episode, Pinkett Smith addressed the Oscars incident more directly, but focused solely on her hopes for reconciliation between Smith and Rock.

"Now, about Oscar night, my deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out, and reconcile."

"The state of the world today, we need them both, and we all actually need one another more than ever."

"Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years, and that’s keep figuring out this thing called life together."

For many on Twitter, Pinkett Smith's commentary seemed like little more than a dodge of the topic, and some were angered by the diversion.

But many others felt the backlash was totally unjustified, and applauded Pinkett Smith for using a negative incident for a positive impact.

The controversy continues, it seems...