‘Wish I Had Handled That Differently’

 

“It’s a scary time to have an opinion or to say the wrong thing or to make controversial art or statements or thoughts or anything,” says Zoë Kravitz

Zoë Kravitz is reflecting on comments she made about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock in the face at the 2022 Academy Awards.

In her cover story for WSJ. Magazine’s Fall 2022 Women’s Fashion issue, the 33-year-old actress addressed some of the online backlash she received for sharing her take on the incident, saying, “It’s a scary time to have an opinion or to say the wrong thing or to make controversial art or statements or thoughts or anything.”

“It’s mostly scary because art is about conversation,” Kravitz added. “That should, in my opinion, always be the point. The internet is the opposite of conversation. The internet is people putting things out and not taking anything in.”

Kravitz initially captioned a since-deleted photo post of her look from the March ceremony, “Here’s a picture of my dress at the show where we are apparently assaulting people on stage now.”

Along with her initial post on social media, Kravitz wrote alongside a second photo at the time, “And here is a picture of my dress at the party after the award show -where we are apparently screaming profanities and assaulting people on stage now.”

At the ceremony, Smith, 53, walked onto the stage and hit Rock, 57, following a joke made by the comedian about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head. (The actress, 50, lives with alopecia.)

The outburst led to months of fallout for Best Actor-winner Smith, who resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was banned from attending Academy events for 10 years.

A source told PEOPLE this week, “Will is doing good. He spends a lot of time with Jada. He is very happy about her constant support. They are very close and back each other up. Family is everything to them.”

Smith feels like he “learned a lot in the past few months,” the insider added, while another source said, “Will is happy about the support he always gets from Jada.”

In her conversation with WSJ. Magazine, Kravitz said she was “reminded that I’m an artist” after receiving criticism for her comments, and that “being an artist is not about everybody loving you or everyone thinking you’re hot.”

“It’s about expressing something that will hopefully spark a conversation or inspire people or make them feel seen,” The Batman star added. “I think I’m in a place right now where I don’t want to express myself through a caption or a tweet. I want to express myself through art.”

She is also “torn about what to say right now, because I’m supposed to just talk about it,” Kravitz admitted.

“I have very complicated feelings around it,” the actress and director said. “I wish I had handled that differently. And that’s okay.”

 
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