[imagesource: YouTube / The Daily Show with Trevor Noah]

The slap heard and seen around the world, or The Slap for brevity has not been good for Will Smith’s career.

We may only know just how damaging it’s been when Emancipation is released in theatres on Friday and the box office numbers start coming in.

Smith has long been one of Hollywood’s biggest drawcards and guarantees bums on theatre seats. Whether or not that remains the case following his Oscars altercation with Chris Rock will soon be known.

Ahead of that release, Smith jetted in to chat with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show. It was bound to come up and we finally learnt a little more about what led to the incident, reports Deadline:

“I was gone, dude,” Smith told Noah on The Daily Show. “That was a rage that had been bottled for a really long time.”

…Smith tried to explain his behavior by reminding people “you just never know what somebody is going through.”

“I was going through something that night,” he said, while turning to address the Daily Show audience. “That doesn’t justify my behavior at all.”

We’re all going through stuff, man. He didn’t even have the excuse that it’s almost December and we’re worked to the bone and in dire need of a holiday.

I haven’t rewatched The Slap in a while so let’s revisit that briefly:

I forgot how hard Chris Rock was laughing just before he was bliksemed. The actor went on to say, “We just gotta be nice to each other, man.”

He’s right on that front. Before you road rage at somebody because they didn’t indicate, take a moment to reconsider. Unless they’re a BMW driver, in which case it’s definitely because they’re a doos.

There were also some tears and a big hug between the two men to finish.

Before he can consider his image rehabilitated, Smith has a long way to go. At least he’s publicly starting the process.

[source:deadline]