It's almost hard to believe it, but it's nearly a year since the 2022 Academy Awards aired on TV, and broke the internet. The discourse surrounding Will Smith slapping Chris Rock hasn't slowed down much during that time, and it'll no doubt be referenced during this year's ceremony. It happened during last night's Golden Globes, with Eddie Murphy explaining why he name-dropped the Smiths during his acceptance speech.
Last night the Golden Globes returned to television, and a number of moments throughout the night went viral. That includes Eddie Murphy accepting the Cecil B. DeMille award and making a joke about the Oscars slap in the process. As a reminder, you can check it out below courtesy of THR's Instagram.
While Eddie Murphy's generations of fans celebrated the way he was honored at the Golden Globes, the most viral moment from his speech was obviously when he name-dropped Will Smith, and quoted him from his infamous Oscars Slap moment with Chris Rock. That included an F-bomb or two, which had to be bleeped during the Globes' live telecast. Talk about making a splash.
After receiving the prestigious Cecil B. DeMille award, Eddie Murphy did a few interviews with the press. During a chat with ET, he was asked why he decided to poke fun at the Will Smith situation. The Dreamgirls actor responded honestly, saying:
Yeah, because in reality, I've worked with Jada. I love Will. I love Will, and I love Chris -- and it's all love.
Well, there you have it. It looks like Eddie Murphy felt he could poke fun at the viral situation thanks to his personal relationships with the three main parties involved: Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Chris Rock. We'll just have to wait and see if any of them issue a response to this latest viral moment connected to The Slap.
As previously mentioned, Will Smith walking on stage and slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars basically broke the internet, especially as he would return to the stage to accept the Best Actor Award for his performance in King Richard. There was a ton of backlash as a result of this incident, with Smith dropping out of the film academy and being banned from the ceremony for a decade. And his professional comeback is only recently starting to pick up steam.
After the incident at the Oscars, Will Smith stepped away from the public eye for a number of months. He eventually returned to social media, while also stepping out into public and even promoting his leading role in Antoine Fuqua's drama Emancipation. And during that press tour, he fielded a number of questions about that incident.
Emancipation is streaming now on Apple TV+. As for Eddie Murphy, he has a number of exciting projects coming down the line including Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley and Triplets. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. We'll just have to wait and see how Smith's Hollywood comeback continues on.
