Denzel Washington Breaks Silence On Will Smith's Oscar Slap With TD Jakes

Denzel Washington opens up about the aftermath of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock during the Oscars with TJ Jakes, revealing he prayed with WIll Smith right after that moment.

Source: Jay L. Clendenin / Getty

We are now in week two of #SlapGate from Will Smith’s infamous slap at the Oscars after Chris Rock made a crude joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith. All week we’ve been subjected to opinions from everyone in entertainment regardless if we wanted to hear them or not. Last week felt like ages from Will Smith’s actual slap, to him dancing with his Oscar, to his Instagram apology, and then him resigning from the Academy altogether. One person who was pivotal in the whole situation was Denzel Washington. Will even shared what Denzel told him after the slap during his Oscars acceptance speech.

Recently Denzel joined Pastor TD Jakes for the 2022 International Leadership Summit and during their masterclass, the two discussed Will Smith and the aftermath of the slap.

“I got to ask you right now, Pastor Washington, you stepped in the middle of World War III, we were looking at Ukraine, and it happened at the Oscars when Will, who I love, smacked, Chris who I love, you came in as a senior statesman into that situation…what happened…to these legends, these icons [who] got into a fight,”

Denzel went on to explain how the devil works and revealed he prayed with Will in the aftermath. Being an OG Denzel might have been the only one that defuses the situation at that moment. You can hear his full breakdown of the aftermath below.