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As the fallout from actor Will Smith's slapping comedian Chris Rock continues to eclipse everything else that happened at this year's Oscars, Richard Williams, the man Smith played in his now Oscar-winning performance, is making his feelings about the incident loud and clear.
Williams—father of tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams and the subject of King Richard for which Smith won the Best Actor statuette Sunday night just minutes after the slap—spoke out about the incident.
Speaking in a statement released by his son, Chavoita LeSane, Williams condemned Smith's actions.
"We don\u2019t condone anyone hitting anyone else unless it\u2019s in self-defense,\u201d the father of Venus and Serena Williams said of the shocking attack at the Oscars.https://www.huffpost.com/entry/richard-williams-will-smith-chris-rock-not-condone-violence_n_62422b48e4b0e44de9b7e1bd\u00a0\u2026— HuffPost (@HuffPost) 1648507562
Williams told NBC News:
“We don’t know all the details of what happened. But we don’t condone anyone hitting anyone else unless it’s in self-defense.”
Williams' words have particular weight given the way Smith spoke of Williams in his Best Actor acceptance speech.
After referencing the altercation between he and Rock with a tearful apology to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and his fellow nominees but, notably, not Rock, Smith compared his actions to the way Williams parented and defended his daughters as he coached them to tennis greatness.
“I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things.”
Williams has had no comment on Smith's speech. But LeSane, who has been Williams' spokesman since he had a stroke, told NBC that Williams was shocked when Smith suddenly lashed out at Rock after he made a joke about his wife actress Jada Pinkett-Smith's hair loss, a sentiment his daughter Serena shared in a post to her Instagram story.
On Twitter, Williams' words
Lol Richard be like \u201cDont use my parenting and Williams family as an excuse for your own way to protect your family\u201d— \ud83d\udc80 (@\ud83d\udc80) 1648529257
I thought the most offensive part of Will\u2019s acceptance speech was the way he invoked Richard Williams to justify his behavior when the film demonstrated that RW stayed in control of himself and would not condone violence in response to words.— Fanderson_isme (@Fanderson_isme) 1648524604
Great to see Richard Williams tell Will Smith to keep his name out of Will's mouth.— Alamo_On_The_Rise \ud83d\ude37\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf2 (@Alamo_On_The_Rise \ud83d\ude37\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf2) 1648509207
I\u2019m definitely glad he said something. That seemed very manipulative to pull Richard Williams name into his acceptance speech to try and \u201cjustify\u201d his behavior around protecting family. Leave the mans name out pls. This behavior had nothing to do with him.— Chubi Nwagbara (@Chubi Nwagbara) 1648526223
No comment on Smith/Rock, but I thought it was unfair for Will to liken his actions to Richard Williams \u201cdefense of his daughters.\u201d Bizarre comparison (Richard never smacked anyone). Especially frustrating given how Serena has gotten so much undue criticism for being \u201chostile.\u201d— Susan Ryan (@Susan Ryan) 1648586722
This man should be enjoying his tremendous and inspiring story getting much-due recognition. But nope. He's having to condemn violence by the man that played him. Shameful. #WillSmithAssaulthttps://twitter.com/BuzzFeed/status/1508808534540099599\u00a0\u2026— Christina CK Kerley (@Christina CK Kerley) 1648575590
When the person you portrayed in an Oscar-winning role says, "This guy doesn't speak for me," you know you screwed up.https://twitter.com/NPR/status/1508839929320771599\u00a0\u2026— David Vienna (@David Vienna) 1648582032
Periodt! Cause he was using your name too loosely for my likinghttps://twitter.com/huffpost/status/1508576174221504517\u00a0\u2026— Ken-Senpai\ud83c\udc04\ufe0f\u2728 (@Ken-Senpai\ud83c\udc04\ufe0f\u2728) 1648577213
Even the man with whom will smith was meant to be portraying doesn't want to be associated with this foolishness ...just tarnishes the whole affair .......His wife put his buisness on blast work your shit out in therapyhttps://twitter.com/Variety/status/1508628786862071813\u00a0\u2026— Not2day (@Not2day) 1648521243
The blowback from Smith's aggression toward Rock is not likely to reach its conclusion any time soon: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which administers the Oscars, announced Monday that it has opened a formal review of the incident.