Zoë Kravitz Wishes She'd Kept Her Mouth Shut About Will Smith-Chris Rock Slap Incident

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Zoë Kravitz was one of the many celebrities that spoke out after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at this year’s Oscars. And in the months since the slap and after commenting on the incident, the actress wishes she’d kept her mouth shut.

Days after the Oscars, Kravitz took to Instagram in a now-deleted post to comment on the slap. The Batman star shared a photo of herself at the awards, captioning the post, “Here’s a picture of my dress at the show where we are apparently assaulting people on stage now.”

She later commented “nope” when a follower asked if she supported Smith’s actions.

Her post received tons of backlash. As Blavity previously reported, Kravitz was once close with the Smith family, working with the actor and his son Jaden on the 2013 film After Earth. The 33-year-old gushed about the then-14-year-old, commending his talents and his “swag.”

After her shady comment toward Will, viewers resurfaced her comments about Jaden. Many found them inappropriate and worth a side-eye.

Since the backlash, she told The Wall Street Journal that she isn’t necessarily proud of her response.

“I’m torn about what to say right now, because I’m supposed to just talk about it; I have very complicated feelings around it,” Kravitz said, according to The Wall Street Journal. “I wish I had handled that differently. And that’s okay.”

The backlash Kravitz grappled with inspired her to think differently about how she moves on social media.

 

“It’s a scary time to have an opinion or to say the wrong thing or to make controversial art or statements or thoughts or anything,” she continued. “It’s mostly scary because art is about conversation. That should, in my opinion, always be the point. The internet is the opposite of conversation. The internet is people putting things out and not taking anything in.”

She added that she “was reminded that I’m an artist. Being an artist is not about everybody loving you or everyone thinking you’re hot. It’s about expressing something that will hopefully spark a conversation or inspire people or make them feel seen. I think I’m in a place right now where I don’t want to express myself through a caption or a tweet. I want to express myself through art.”

According to Variety, the 33-year-old is currently in production for her directorial debut, P**sy Island, which stars Naomi Ackie and Channing Tatum.