Will Smith received the Beacon Award at the African American Film Critics Association Awards on Wednesday night and delivered his first on-stage speech since the Chris Rock Oscar slap controversy last March.
Will Smith returned in his speech on the production of the film which he starred, Emancipationpointing out that it was the toughest shoot of his entire career – which earned him laughs from the audience.
Chris Rock is due to present a special show live on Netflix this Saturday, during which he intends to address the issue of the slap.
The comedian has alluded to the incident numerous times in his performances over the past year in the form of brief jokes, but this is the first time he’s spoken about it at length.