Marlon Wayansis confidentWill SmithandChris Rockwill make up after the Best Actor winner struck the comedian onstage atthe OscarsSunday after a joke aboutJada Pinkett Smith.
He adds, “Chris Rock, he’s always Chris Rock; you’ve got to expect that from Chris Rock. And sometimes when you’re best friends, worst things happen and I wish it didn’t happen. … [I] hope they seek out and work it out.”
From a comedian’s standpoint, Wayans argues, “You’ve got to be able to crack jokes. You don’t know what somebody’s going through … he cracked the wrong joke on the wrong day. And sometimes you hit the wrong person in the wrong moment. … It was just bad timing.”
For more on the Will Smith-Chris Rock incident at the Oscars, listen below to our daily podcast on PEOPLE Every Day.
TheRespectactor says the two should “sit down and talk about it” to get past the controversial moment.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“A room full of love in our community. We all respect each other as artists, as individuals, as Black men, as men in general, and this is not the way we conduct ourselves, fellas, and we get better. That’s all,” he says. “You can have mistakes sometimes. Mistakes, that’s the best thing to have because moving forward we know that’s never going to happen again.”
Wayans adds, “They definitely will [make amends], because from Chris there’s no beef at all, what’s in his heart. That was actually a light joke. Very light. So, I mean, obviously Will’s going through something. Sometimes worst things happen on the best day, and this is one of those examples.”
Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.Kevin Mazur/VF22/WireImage for Vanity Fair
Seconds later, Smith walked onstage and approached Rock,hitting him in front of the audienceand millions watching the telecast at home. Back at his table, Smith shouted to a stunned Rock: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f—–g mouth.”
Rockdeclined to press charges. When Smith won Best Actor soon after in the ceremony, he apologized to the Academy and his fellow nomineesbut did not mention Rock. In his tearful speech, he spoke about acting out of love and protection, saying, “Love makes you do crazy things.”
In astatementafter the show, the Academy said, “The Academy does not condone violence of any form. Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world,” it continued, shifting the focus to the newly mintedOscar winners.
source: people.com
