Will Smith returns to his Oscar slap in new music

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — It was the slap seen around the world, and Will Smith is not shying away from it.

The actor and rapper has his first album out in 20 years. On his new music, Smith addresses the 2022 Oscars incident in which he hit comedian Chris Rock.

Rock was presenting an award and made a joke about actress Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, which did not to go over well with her husband, Smith. He walked up on stage and slapped Rock, an act which earned Smith a decade-long ban from the Academy Awards.

His new album, “Based on a True Story,” includes the track “Int. Barbershop — Day,” which opens with the line, “Will Smith is canceled.”

It features Smith’s longtime collaborator DJ Jazzy Jeff, as well as social media influencer B. Simone. Multiple voices are heard chatting about Smith as the song begins.

“I heard he won the Oscar but he had to give it back/ And you know they only made him do that s**t because he’s Black,” someone says.

The same year Smith slapped Rock, he won the best actor Oscar for his role in “King Richard.” (Smith was not required to return his award.)

Another voice says: “Him and Jada both crazy girl, what you talkin’ bout?/ You better keep his wife’s name out of your mouth,” a reference to Smith yelling at Rock to “keep my wife’s name out of your mouth” before he took to the stage.

“Took a lot, I’m back on top/ Y’all gon’ have to get acclimated/ Won’t stop, my s**t still hot/ Even though I won’t get nominated,” Smith raps on the track, “You Lookin’ For Me?”

Smith has previously publicly apologized to Rock for striking him and later released a video in which he expressed that he was “deeply remorseful” about the incident.

Rock later addressed the attack in a 2023 stand-up special.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.