Skip Bayless Claims Will Smith Was ‘Method Acting’ as Richard Williams When He Slapped Chris Rock
The slap heard around the world is still going strong almost 48 hours later (thanks to social media) as the Will Smith incident has gotten all the talk shows to do what they did best, talk about it. Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe are the latest sports duo to discuss the matter as even Bayless deemed this important enough to set 20 minutes aside from the regularly schedule LeBron hate that the personality is known for.
In case you live under a rock, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars over the weekend when Rock made a bald joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, who is suffering from Alopecia.
The incident overshadowed what was supposed to be a historic night for the “Fresh Prince” as he won his first academy award for his performance in the biopic King Richard. Nevertheless, the altercation left many in the crowd and the worldwide viewers wondering if it was staged or real, including the Undisputed duo.
Skip Bayless puts LeBron James on the backburner to wonder if Will Smith was just method acting pic.twitter.com/7wiQppArtU
— Brandon Contes (@BrandonContes) March 28, 2022
“Is it possible that Will actually started to think he was Richard Williams?” Bayless asked Sharpe. “Like, ‘I gotta put an end to this right here right now because that’s what Richard would have done’…it’s method acting, taken over the edge.”
“A lot of times they get in character and when you get in character it’s hard to get out of character,” Sharpe followed up.
But unlike established method actors Heath Ledger and Daniel Day-Lewis, Smith has gone the opposite way as he has previously spoken out against method acting. His main reason for this was his role in Six Degrees of Separation when he became stuck in character, causing him to fall in love with co-star Stockard Channing.
“I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams,” Smith said during his acceptance speech for King Richard, which occurred shortly after the incident. “But love will make you do crazy things.”
The slap seems more of an act of passion rather than method acting, especially since filming for the biopic wrapped over 15 months ago.
Furthermore, Sharpe continued the conversation by coming to the defense of Chris Rock, who he admitted “whooped Will Smith’s ass,” if he was in the same situation.
That’s big talk for a former NFL player like Sharpe to say he would handle his business more aggressively compared to the slender and smaller Rock but it speaks to who was involved in the altercation.
“I think the whole theater thought it was rehearsed like it was staged,” Bayless explained. “Then it became clear that it was not.”
Sharpe and Bayless concluded the discussion by bringing up the Smith family’s other issues including the “entanglement” with musician August Alsina.
