Ellis-Taylor made the remarks on The Daily Beast’s ‘Obsessed’ podcast on Wednesday, Aug. 12
Credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty; obsessed podcast
NEED TO KNOW
- Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor defended Will Smith’s Oscars slap, saying he wanted to “protect his wife,” Jada Pinkett Smith
- Ellis-Taylor praised her King Richard costar for treating everyone on set with respect, calling it a rare quality in the industry
- Smith slapped Chris Rock during the 2022 Academy Awards after the comedian joked about Pinkett Smith’s hair amid her journey with alopecia
Will Smith‘s King Richard co-star Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor is defending his infamous slap against Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards.
Ellis-Taylor, 57, made the remarks during an appearance on The Daily Beast’s Obsessed podcast on Wednesday, Aug. 12.
“I know that he wanted to protect his wife, and I stand by that,” she said on the podcast. “I stand with him for that. I think that this idea that First Amendment rights should protect everybody—I don’t think it should necessarily protect a–holes. I really don’t.”
In the now-notorious moment, Rock, 61, made a joke directed at Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s buzzed haircut.
“Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it!” the comedian had quipped at the time, seemingly unaware of Pinkett Smith’s alopecia, a hair loss condition.
In response, Smith, 57, approached Rock on the Oscars stage and slapped him across the face. He returned to his seat next to Pinkett Smith and shouted, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f—ing mouth!”
Later that evening, Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Richard Williams, the father of legendary tennis pros Venus and Serena Williams. Smith subsequently resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was banned from Oscars ceremonies for 10 years.
Ellis-Taylor was also in attendance that year and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Oracene “Brandy” Price in the sports drama. During the podcast appearance, the Lucky star also praised Smith for standing up for “background artists” on the film, and shared her positive experience working with him.
“He just would not allow anybody to be treated poorly in his presence,” Ellis-Taylor added of Smith. “He just would not allow it. And I cannot tell you how rare that is in this job.”
Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty
In the years since the incident, when asked if he would ever host the Oscars following the slap, Rock replied, “You never know,” when speaking with E! News at an Oscars after-party in 2025. He previously hosted the show in 2005 and 2016.
Also in 2025, Wanda Sykes, who co-hosted the 2022 Oscars with Amy Schumer and Regina Hall, told Variety that Smith had apologized to her personally for disrupting the show with the slap.
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“He called. I had COVID or a bad cold,” she told the outlet. “I just texted to say, ‘Hey, I got your message. Thank you. I can’t talk.’ But he did call.”
“I mean, I loved working with Regina [Hall] and Amy [Schumer],” Sykes, 62, shared of her experience co-hosting. “But like you said, it got overshadowed,” Sykes recalled, when asked how she looked back on the evening. “People talk to me about that night without even mentioning, ‘Oh yeah, you hosted, right?’ Like I was in the audience or at home, watching TV. But I was there.”
PEOPLE has reached out to reps for Rock and Smith following Ellis-Taylor’s remarks.
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