Mayor Eric Adams stated Wednesday that Will Smith had a “bad day” when he slapped Chris Rock throughout Sunday’s Academy Awards, and shouldn’t have to return the Oscar he received.
During an look on Fox 5, Adams defined that although “violence is never the answer” Smith shouldn’t be judged too harshly on his actions when he failed to management his “passion.”
“Violence is never the answer. It’s a painful moment,” he advised “Good Day New York.”
“But you know, sometimes when you’re dealing with [an] illness of a loved one, you become emotional,” he added. “And sometimes we have to think through our actions and not react through our passion.”
Asked by host Rosanna Scotto if the “King Richard” actor needs to be pressured to give again the Best Actor award he received that night, the tough-on-crime retired NYPD captain replied, “I don’t think he should.”
“The worst day in our life should not be the description of our entire life,” Adams continued. “You know, Will Smith has been an amazing actor, humanitarian. He has been a real leader. I think he had a bad day. And you know, I don’t believe we should define his entire life — we all have bad days. I have bad days, you know?”
“It was a bad day, violence should never be used, but I think Will — he apologized, he said he was wrong, he’s embarrassed,” the mayor added. “I think that we should accept his apology.”
Industry insiders beforehand advised The Post Smith could also be requested to hand again his Best Actor statuette following his live-TV smack of Rock.
Adams remarks on the stunning second got here after he declined Monday to share his ideas on the controversy.
“I was in the subway station last night. I don’t have time for TV,” Adams advised reporters at a childcare heart in Queens.
During the 94th Academy Awards Sunday night, Smith, 53, walked up to the stage and delivered an open-handed whack within the head to Rock, 57, after the comic implied the actor’s spouse, Jada Pinkett Smith, seemed like the thrill cut-sporting Demi Moore within the 1997 film “G.I. Jane.”
Smith — who initially laughed at Rock’s joke whereas his spouse rolled her eyes — returned to his seat then screamed twice at Rock, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f–king mouth.”
“Wow, dude, it was a ‘G.I. Jane’ joke,” a surprised Rock replied earlier than quipping, “That was, uh, the greatest night in the history of television.”
Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia, and lately has been vocal about her experiences with the hair loss the situation causes.
Smith has since apologized to Rock, saying Monday in an Instagram put up that his conduct was “out of line” and that he was “embarrassed” by it.
Also Wednesday, Adams throughout his morning TV look continued to defend his new efforts to sweep homeless encampments — insisting that the town’s greater than 400 notoriously harmful and decrepit amenities devoted to quickly sheltering about 45,000 homeless people are one of the best choices for these on the streets.
“It’s the safest place for people who are homeless,” he stated on Fox 5. “We’re always going to improve our shelter system. I’ve been visiting shelters all over unannounced, because I want to see the product, I want to make sure people have a suitable living environment with dignity. There’s no dignity living on the street.”
The Post reported earlier this month that many homeless residents say they’d somewhat take their probabilities on the road over coming into a system they are saying is dwelling to cockroaches within the meals and mice crawling on beds in addition to fixed violence and thefts.
The mayor additionally once more promised to repair the “bureaucratic nightmare” that The Post reported has resulted in an estimated 2,500 city-funded flats for homeless and down-on-their luck Big Apple residents sitting vacant.
“There is a serious number of units that are empty, and we’re going to put in place a real plan to expedite that,” he stated on the morning program, including the scenario was “unacceptable.
“Too much bureaucracy, and not enough coordination. The team is coming together to make sure that we don’t make the mistakes of the past.”
In addition, the mayor touted his anti-rule-breaking subway security initiative he introduced in February, noting that the NYPD’s highest-ranking chiefs have began patrolling the transit system.
“I’m in the subway just about every night,” Adams claimed. “We’re doing a great job in executing the plan, our senior leadership is down there, my chiefs are down there like I am.”
