The father of Tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams has defended actor Will Smith for slapping comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars.
Smith, 54, played Richard Williams in the biopic film King Richard, which won him best actor at the 94th Academy Awards last year.
At the ceremony last year, Smith got on stage and smack Rock in the face following comments the comedian made about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.
Almost one year on from the incident, Williams, 81, shared his support for the 54-year-old and even claimed he ‘didn’t feel sorry’ for comedian Chris Rock, 58, who was at the receiving end of the strike.
“I think he has done the best thing he needed to do, but I would never be disgusted with Mr Smith. Matter of fact, I appreciate Mr Smith,” he told Good Morning Britain.
When asked if he saw any wrongdoing in what happened at the Oscars, Williams said: “I don’t see nothing wrong with that.”
He added: “It’s time for everyone to forgive Will Smith.”
The interview comes a day after Rock made comments about the slap during his Netflix special Chris Rock: Selective Outrage.
He said: “You all know what happened to me, getting smacked by Suge Smith. Everybody knows. Yes it happened, I got smacked like a year ago.”
“People were like, ‘did it hurt?’ It still hurts. I got Summertime ringing in my ears. But I’m not a victim baby, you’ll never see me on Oprah crying. You will never see it. Never going to happen.
“I took that hit like (former boxer Manny) Pacquiao.”
