Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals That She Initially Thought Will Smith’s Oscars Incident Was A Skit: “I Was Like, ‘There’s No Way That Will Hit Him'”

Jada Pinkett Smith reflects on the aftermath that followed Will Smith’s Oscars incident.

The 52-year-old actress recently sat down with PEOPLE to discuss the speculation surrounding her involvement in the incident where her husband, Will Smith, confronted Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards.

“It was ridiculous in how far it went,” Jada said. “But I also understood at the same time. Considering the false narrative that I had cheated on Will or I was like some adulteress, Will had never done that before. And I think that when we just look at human nature. When you look at the breadcrumbs, people need something to blame.”

She added, “And so people not knowing what was happening behind the scenes. I surely wasn’t surprised that I got blamed. But I understood that that’s just the human nature of it all.”

Additionally, Jada reveals that her initial reaction to the incident was believing it to be a scripted performance arranged by Will and Rock for the Oscars broadcast.

“I was like, ‘There’s no way that Will hit him,'” she said. “It wasn’t until Will started to walk back to his chair that I even realized it wasn’t a skit.”

Following the incident, Will was handed a 10-year ban from participating in Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gatherings, including the Oscars. Will has previously clarified that his wife played no role in influencing his reaction to Rock’s joke, which had targeted Jada’s alopecia. Among his various apologies for the incident, Will posted a video on his Facebook and YouTube accounts in July 2022, explicitly denying any involvement of Jada instructing him to take any action in response to Rock’s comments.