Actor Andrew Garfield has admitted that he was texting friends immediately after Will Smith slapped presenter Chris Rock during the 2022 Academy Awards. After a joke Rock had made on Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s expense, Smith went up to the stage and whacked Rock across the face before the audience and millions watching the live broadcast around the world.
Photos of Garfield texting somebody on his phone went viral. While speaking on ABC’s The View, he was asked as to what he could be texting about. He jokingly responded, “That’s none of your business.”
He added more seriously, “I feel so bad because Kevin Costner’s introducing the director nominees in the most beautiful and elegant way, and I’m like, ‘There’s no way I’m going to be on camera during this. Everyone’s texting me, asking me, like, what the vibe in the room is. At that moment, my friends took priority over Kevin.”
Andrew Garfield texting the other Peter Parkers to see if Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in their universes too pic.twitter.com/HWaUWGMp28
— Clint Lamb (@ClintRLamb) March 28, 2022
Interestingly, Garfield and Smith both were nominees in the Best Actor category — Garfield for tick, tick…BOOM! and Smith for King Richard. Smith went on to win the prize not long after the slap. He apologised later for his behaviour towards Rock through a social media statement.
Smith’s action evoked widespread condemnation, and some even demanded he be stripped of his Best Actor trophy, which, they said, should not have been given in the first place.
The Academy has banned Smith for 10 years, but many were of the opinion that that is not enough. And many others thought Smith is being punished but alleged serial sexual abusers like Louis CK are back in the game and are even being awarded.
