Scott Morrison Says He “Understands” Why Will Smith Slapped Chris Rock
Morrison was asked if he ever wanted to cross the floor to slap somebody.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said that he “understands” why Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars earlier this week.
In case you needed a reminder of just how truly chaotic this week has been, it was only on Monday that Will Smith made headlines for slapping Chris Rock on live TV. Since then, we’ve had a federal Budget released, a Liberal senator accuse the Prime Minister of being a “bully” who is “unfit for office”, and countless other truly wild headlines.
But if you thought that meant that the whole Oscars fiasco was a distant memory in the discourse, think again because Scott Morrison was today quizzed on whether or not he ever felt like he wanted to cross the floor to slap someone in Parliament.
In an interview with a Brisbane radio station on Tuesday, he was asked just that and — to absolutely nobody’s surprise — he again mentioned Jenny, who should frankly be paying rent for the space she occupies in this man’s public speeches. “I’m also fiercely defensive of anyone who would say anything about Jenny too, so I can understand it,” said Morrison, laughing. “That’s not how you roll”.
While he stopped short of saying he had any desire to slap the likes of Anthony Albanese, it is clear that his $200,000 empathy training — if nothing else — has taught him how to understand where Will Smith was coming from.
For those unfamiliar with the situation, Smith slapped Rock after he made an insensitive and offensive joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith and her battle with alopecia. Rock declined to press charges and Smith has since apologised to both the Academy, and to Rock.
“Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behaviour at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable,” he wrote in a statement on Tuesday. “Jokes at my expense are part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.
“I would like to publicly apologise to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong.”
Morrison’s comments come after the Young Liberals were forced to delete a meme that likened the slap to the Labor party assaulting hard-working Australians with higher taxes.