"I've always wanted to be Superman, I've always wanted to swoop in and save the damsel in distress," Will Smith explained to Trevor Noah in conversation about the infamous slap of Chris Rock at the Oscars that shocked Hollywood elite and the rest of the world.
"I had to humble down and realize that I'm a flawed human," Smith said of the March incident.
Appearing on "The Daily Show" to promote his new film "Emancipation," Smith addressed the elephant in the room: "I've been away, what y'all been doing?"
Speaking of the evening, Smith noted, "That was a horrific night, as you can imagine." He added, "There's many nuances and complexities to it, you know, but at the end of the day, I just - I lost it. I guess what I would say - you just never know what somebody's going through."
Will Smith says "I lost in," in reference to slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards. ( Isa Foltin/WireImage)
One of those nuances or complexities was his childhood, he said.
"It was a lot of things," Smith said of what lead to the slap. "It was the little boy who watched his father beat up his mother…all of that just bubbled up in that moment. I just - that's not who I want to be."
Smith, 54, shared "I was gone, dude. That was a rage that had been bottled for a really long time."
Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on the Academy Awards stage after the comedian made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith's appearance. Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia. (Myung Chun/Los Angeles Times)
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He also spoke directly to the audience, imploring people to be kinder to one another.
"In the audience right now, you know, you're sitting next to strangers…somebody's mother died last week, somebody's child is sick, somebody just lost their job, somebody just found out their spouse cheated. There's all these things. They're strangers and you just don't know what's going on with people…I was going through something that night."
While he emphasized that not knowing what someone else is dealing with does not justify his behavior, it was his biggest takeaway from the night. "We got to be nice to each other…it's hard…I guess the thing it was most for me is I took my heart and made it hard for other people," he shared.
Smith took particular issue with a joke Rock made while on stage at the Academy Awards. It was at the expense of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia.
Will Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the Oscar Awards in 2022. (Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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Smith understands the public's disappointment with his actions. After returning from the awards show, he was greeted by his nephew at his home, who had stayed up to catch a glimpse of his uncle winning an Oscar Award.
Smith got emotional talking about the moment when his 9-year-old nephew asked "Why did you hit that man, Uncle Will?"
Despite the emotions he experienced and the repercussions he has faced due to his decision to slap Rock, Smith says, "I had to forgive myself for being human… Trust me, there's nobody that hates the fact that I'm human more than me."
"I still have an opportunity, you know, to go out in the world and contribute in a way that fills my heart and hopefully fills other people," he told Noah.
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