Serena Williams’ father Richard finally broke his silence surrounding Will Smith’s Oscars scandal, joking that the filmstar can “slap” his face whenever they meet. The sly bantering from the American comes on the back of the incident that happened with Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, where Will Smith went on stage and slapped his co-star for making a joke about his wife.
Will Smith played Richard Williams’ character in the Hollywood biopic ‘King Richard’, a film that told the success story of Venus and Serena Williams through the eyes of their father. Smith gained wide-spread appreciation from critics and fans alike for his performance in the movie.
In a conversation with The U.S. Sun, the former tennis coach raised an opinion on the issues surrounding Smith at the Oscars. He stated that he would not judge the actor for what he had done that night, but suggested that Smith could have handled the situation better. “I think that whatever he [Smith] wants to do, that’s what he should do. People are going to think what they want to think. If he apologized [that’s good], however, he wants to deal with the situation. I wouldn’t judge anyone,” the 80-year-old expressed.
During the whole process of making the film, Richard Williams and Smith never established any sort of communication. In light of this, the former was asked whether he would like to meet the American actor, to which he replied: “I definitely hope so, yes. I would say just, hello. And maybe, what [we] should do … just slap my face,” he joked.
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