Jada Pinkett Smith took her time before addressing the now-infamous Oscars slap on Wednesday, and plenty of people aren’t too thrilled about her explanation—specifically Vivica A. Fox.
Per People, during Thursday’s episode of The Wendy Williams Show, Fox shared her emotional reaction to Pinkett Smith’s words explaining that seeing the video made her cry and that talking about it was “difficult.” However, she ultimately felt like the Gotham star’s comments came across as self-righteous.
“This is going to be difficult for me. These are my peers. I’ve done a movie with both of them,” Fox began. “Set It Off with Jada and Independence Day with Will Smith, which absolutely changed my life. When I saw this video last night, it made me cry, I’ll be very honest with you guys. I really felt to be a partner to Will Smith whose career basically took a crumble that night. We were all rooting for Will Smith that night—Oscar night—we wanted him to win. Will Smith that night as far as I was concerned was going to be crowned this generation’s Sidney Poitier, which is a huge honor.”
She continued:
“Will Smith was defending her [Jada’s] honor, that’s the reason he walked on stage and slapped because he felt like his wife had been offended so for me to see no accountability as a partner. Also, let’s not forget, Chris Rock was assaulted. We cannot forget that for basically telling a joke that I really felt wasn’t that bad. Let’s not forget the show was executive produced by Will Packer, an African American man. This night was a night of African American and diversity for brown and black people. That now will forever be scarred.”
She concluded, “I have love for the Smiths. I know their children. I’ve watched them grow up. I just wish we could have just a little more accountability and for it to not seem so self-righteous on Jada’s part and that’s my feelings.”
As previously reported by The Root, on Wednesday, Pinkett Smith expressed her hope that her husband and Chris Rock could “talk this out and reconcile” as they’re both needed given the state of the world today.