Zoë Kravitz Regrets Calling Out Will Smith For Oscars Slap — After Sparking Backlash For Pervy Comments About Jaden!

Aug 17, 2022

Zoë Kravitz is finally addressing the way she reacted to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars — and she has some MAJOR regrets!

As Perezcious readers know, a few days after the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum hit the comedian on live television over a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith‘s hair, Zoë took to Instagram to share photos from the evening and call out the drama in a shady caption, writing:

“Here’s a picture of my dress at the show where we are apparently assaulting people on stage now.”

She also responded “nope” when someone asked her if she supported Will’s actions. Both comments totally backfired when online critics dug up some icky comments Zoë made about Will’s son Jaden Smith.

The three all worked together on After Earth when Jaden was just 14 years old. One person tweeted a screenshot of an interview the actress, who is ten years older than the child star, did with V Magazine in 2013 — in which she discussed her somewhat creepy thoughts about the young teen, saying:

“There were moments that I was hanging out with Jaden and thinking, I can’t believe you’re 14, I have to check myself, like what I say to you. He has so much personality and so much swag, he is so much cooler than I am. And he’s so handsome, I was always like, when you’re older, you know, we’ll hang out… Nope, that’s inappropriate, you’re 14.”

Now everything starting to make sense-
pic.twitter.com/fl7oddekg2

— sunny🖤 (@c_ewenike) March 30, 2022

Just… no.

So inappropriate!

Unfortunately, the trolling didn’t stop there. Folks — perhaps in support of Will, maybe just because internet? — dug up a LOT more about her past, including her friendship with Alexander Wang (who has been accused of sexual assault by multiple people), comments she’s made about her biracial upbringing, and her father Lenny Kravitz’s own history of dating someone WAY younger than him. She really got sucker punched with all the dirt the internet could dig up!! So how does she feel about speaking out now?!

In a new interview with The Wall Street Journal out on Tuesday, the Pussy Island director says she regrets how she handled herself at the time — likely because of the backlash it caused her! She said:

“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. I wish I had handled that differently. And that’s okay.”

She’s been left with an unexpected takeaway though…

Rather than realizing some of the stuff she said about Jaden was inappropriate, for example, she has realized she just doesn’t like cancel culture! The Batman star mused:

“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. 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.”

The internet can be HARSH AF, but it’s not like her comments about Jaden were said for the purpose of “art.” You can’t just say or do anything you want IRL just cause you’re an artist. Just saying! At this point, she’s kiiiinda the one who’s coming across as not listening to the criticism…

While the controversy wasn’t fun, it does sound like the 33-year-old has had a change of heart — not about The Slap situation but about how she’ll handle herself in the future:

“I was reminded that I’m an artist. 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. 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.”

Definitely less messy that way!! Reactions, Perezcious readers? Do you agree with her take on social media?? Sound OFF (below)!

[Image via Jaden Smith/Will Smith/Instagram & The Tonight Show/YouTube]

Chris Rock