LOS ANGELES (KNX) — Monday morning Will Smith was not making headlines for his Best Actor win at the Academy Awards. The "King Richard" actor was in the news for walking on a stage and slapping comedian Chris Rock after Rock made a joke about Smith's wife. In a statement shared with NBC News, the real, "King Richard" said his family doesn't know the full story, but also doesn't condone that kind of violence.
"We don’t condone anyone hitting anyone else unless it’s in self-defense," Richard Williams said, via his son Chavoita LeSane, to NBC News.
LeSane, who the outlet says has served as Williams' spokesperson since the 80-year-old suffered a stroke, stated that his father and the Williams family, were just as surprised as the rest of the world when they saw Smith hit Rock.
Hours after LeSane spoke out, organizers of the Academy Awards shared a statement in which it was made clear that Smith's behavior would not be tolerated.
"The Academy condemns the actions of Mr. Smith at last night's show," the Academy said in a statement shared by TVMoJoe.
"We have officially started a formal review around the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct and California law."
Smith issued an apology to both Rock and the Academy for his actions around 4 p.m. Monday, less than 24 hours after the joke gone wrong.
He had previously been criticized for apologizing to the Academy for his behavior during his acceptance speech for Best Actor, but never mentioning that he was sorry to Rock for hitting him.
Though he didn't mention the speech in his formal apology Monday, he did mention that the post was directly to Rock and even tagged the comedian.
"Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive," Smith said, in part, going on to say, "I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be."
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