Will Smith on Oscars slap: At end of the day, 'I lost it'

Will Smith on Monday attempted to explain the thought process behind his slapping of presenter Chris Rock live on air at the Academy Awards in March. Smith, who faced a torrent of backlash, subsequently was suspended from Academy events for 10 years, and issued a public apology to comedian Rock.

Saying there are "many nuances and complexities to it," the 54-year-old Oscar winner told host Trevor Noah on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" that "at the end of the day, I just, I lost it, you know,” according to a partial transcript in The Hollywood Reporter. “I guess what I would say, you just never know what somebody’s going through,” Smith said of himself. At the awards ceremony, he rose from his seat and strode to the stage, striking Rock for a joke to which Smith had objected.

Smith insisted his explanation was not meant to "justif[y] my behavior at all." But he harkened back to "the little boy that watched his father beat up his mother. … All of that just bubbled up in that moment. … That’s not who I wanna be.”

He reflected that he habitually is angry at himself. “I had to forgive myself for being human,” Smith said. “Trust me, there’s nobody that hates the fact that I’m human more than me. And just finding that space for myself within myself to be human. … I’ve always wanted to be Superman. I’ve always wanted to swoop in and save the damsel in distress, you know. And I had to humble down, you know, and realize that I’m a flawed human, and I still have an opportunity to go out in the world and contribute in a way that fills my heart, and hopefully helps other people.”

Smith said he has learned "that we just got to be nice to each other, man,” adding, "You know, it’s like, it’s hard. And I guess the thing that was most painful for me is, I took my hard and made it hard for other people. You know, it’s like, I understood the idea when they say hurt people hurt people.”

He additionally told the WTTG/Washington, D.C., morning show "Good Day DC" that he understood if some viewers avoided his upcoming film "Emancipation" out of distaste for him: "I completely understand that if … someone is not ready, I would absolutely respect that and allow them their space to not be ready. … My deepest hope is that my actions don't penalize my team."