During a recent chat withPEOPLE, actress and comedianLeslie Jonesshared her thoughts on theWill SmithOscar slap and revealed thatChris Rocksought counseling as a result of the incident.
While opening up about her feelings after watching from homeas Smith slapped Rock at the 2022 Oscars, theSNLalum said, “It made me so infuriated. You don’t know that I was going to jump in my car and roll up there. I was so f***ing mad on so many levels.”
TheComing 2 Americastar (who has a new memoir titledLeslie F*cking Jonescoming out on September 19th), also spoke about her friendship with Rock telling the outlet that theGrown Upsactor is “like my brother.”
The actress also spoke about how Rock convinced her to audition forSaturday Night Liveback in 2013, Jones said, “I was like, ‘Why, those aren’t real comics. He was like, Shut up. You sound like an idiot.”
While talking about the pair’s bond, Jones noted, “He’s just always there to give me the perfect advice when I need it.”
With Rock proving to always be there for his pal in her time of need (theSpiralstar even wrote the foreword for theGhostbustersstar’s upcoming memoir), it’s no surprise that Jones similarly wanted to help out theDeath at a Funeralstar after the Oscar incident.
RELATED:Does Will Smith Deserve a Comeback?
Jones said, “For a long a** time I was just mad. Chris Rock did a f***ing joke. I know Will, too… I was like, you couldn’t handle that s**t afterwards. This is the Oscars. The whole world is watching.”
The comedian went on to say that when she spoke to Rock about the Oscar slap, “I was like, ‘Chris, when he got up why didn’t you run?’ Jones then added, “‘I would’ve been running around that stage like “Will, calm down. Jada, call your man!'”
The Angry Birds 2star added that she wished that aftermath of the incident had been handled differently.
While reflecting on the Smith’s actions following the slap, Jones said, “He could have still fixed it.”
The actress elaborated, noting that she believes Smith should have said, “‘I shouldn’t have did that. Bring Chris out. I can not accept the Oscar right now because that was f***ing wrong.'”
Jones then revealed how the incident impacted Rock afterward, by stating, “That s**t was humiliating. It really affected him. People need to understand his daughters, his parents, saw that.”
TheMastermindsactor added, “He had to go to counseling with his daughters.”
Jones wrapped things up by sharing her thoughts on Rock’s Netflix specialSelective Outragewhich released on the streaming service back in March.
She said, “Everybody got pissed off about him doing a special. That’s what comedians do. Instead of us going crazy we fing go talk about it on the fing stage. Thank God we’ve got the stage.”
