Joe Rogan Says Will Smith ‘Has to Be Forgiven’ for 2022 Oscars Slap: ‘He Clearly Has Deep Remorse’

Joe Rogan believes it’s time for Will Smith to be forgiven for hitting Chris Rock.

On a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan sat down with The Walking Dead actor Jon Bernthal to talk about his career and Hollywood.

During the conversation, the topic of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars ceremony came up.

Rogan firmly believed that it was time to forgive Smith for the incident.

“I had a conversation with my friend Brian Simpson yesterday, who’s a standup comic. Brilliant guy. And one of the things we talked about was Will Smith slapping Chris Rock,” Rogan began.

“Chris Rock, who is, in our world is, you know, he’s one of the Mount Rushmore, he’s a king. And, you know, his take on it was like ‘That guy — fuck that guy forever. And you know, what do you, what do you do with that guy?’ Like, there’s a lot of us in the beginning we were like, ‘Fuck that guy. Fuck you forever,'” he continued.

But the comedian said he’s had a change of heart about the situation.

“And I’m like, ‘No.’ You know, now thinking about, I’m like, that guy has to be forgiven. Like, he clearly has deep remorse for what he’s done. And he’s also clearly living in a world where he was given nothing but adulation and praise for most of his life. And then all of a sudden he has this one, in many people’s eyes, unforgivable moment where he does something just so fucking stupid,” Rogan said.

Rogan explained that despite everything Smith is just a human being.

“But it’s not like he doesn’t realize it. He’s a human being. You just gotta forgive him, you know? And I think the real person who has to forgive him — if he wants to is Chris Rock,” Rogan said.

“That’s right,” Bernthal agreed.

“You know, and I don’t know if Chris will,” Rogan said.

Watch above via The Joe Rogan Experience.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!