"It's a scary time to have an opinion or to say the wrong thing"
Zoe Kravitz is “torn” over getting involved in the Will Smith-Chris Rock “slap” discourse.
The incident that shocked Academy Award viewers across the globe is still fresh in “The Batman” star’s mind after she publicly condemned the “King Richard” actor on social media.
“I’m torn about what to say right now, because I’m supposed to just talk about it; I have very complicated feelings around it,” she admitted during an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “I wish I had handled that differently. And that’s okay.”
Nearly five months ago, Kravitz took to Instagram two days after Smith slapped Rock across the face for cracking a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith’s alopecia condition. Sharing a photo of herself wearing a pink Saint Laurent gown at the Oscars, she captioned the post, “Here’s a picture of my dress at the show where we are apparently assaulting people on stage now.”
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When a fan asked in the comments, “You don’t support him defending his wife?” Kravitz answered with a definitive “nope.”
After the “High Fidelity” star began receiving backlash for her comments, she later deleted the post but continued to receive criticism. The poor reception to her statements made Kravitz reevaluate her decision to use her platform to share her own perspective.
“It’s a scary time to have an opinion or to say the wrong thing or to make controversial art or statements or thoughts or anything,” she said. “It’s mostly scary because art is about conversation. That should, in my opinion, always be the point. The internet is the opposite of conversation. The internet is people putting things out and not taking anything in.”
Kravitz revealed that the experience had helped her learn a valuable lesson. “I was reminded that I’m an artist,” she continued. “Being an artist is not about everybody loving you or everyone thinking you’re hot. It’s about expressing something that will hopefully spark a conversation or inspire people or make them feel seen.”
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She concluded her sentiments, “I think I’m in a place right now where I don’t want to express myself through a caption or a tweet. I want to express myself through art.”
Earlier this month, Will Smith offered up his most extensive response and reaction to his own behavior. The Oscar winner took to Instagram for a lengthy video where he answered a lot of questions about the slap heard ’round the world.
Will said he was “fogged out” by the time he found himself walking up to the stage.
He apologized again to Chris, saying that he’s reached out to Chris’ camp but heard back that the comedian is “not ready to talk, and when he is, he will reach out.” He also apologized to Questlove, who won the Oscar for “Summer of Soul” immediately following the slap — a moment that was subsequently completely overshadowed.
Will confessed, “It hurts me psychologically and emotionally to know I didn’t live up to people’s image and impression of me. I’m a human and I made a mistake, and I’m trying not to think of myself as a piece of s—.”
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