A TV presenter who was once attacked by Will Smith at a movie premiere has accused the Oscar-winner’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith of profiting off his infamous Chris Rock slap.
Ukrainian reporter-turned-prankster Vitalii Sediuk was pushed and given a backhanded slap to the face after he hugged and tried to kiss Will on a red carpet in May 2012.
Will Smith slaps Chris Rock onstage during the Oscars in Hollywood, California, in March 2022
Will Smith slaps reporter Vitalii Sediuk at the premiere of Men in Black 3 in Moscow, Russia, in May 2012
The incident took place at the Moscow opening of Men in Black 3 while Sediuk, now 34, was working for a Ukrainian television station.
Following Will’s outburst at last year’s Oscars, Sediuk condemned the King Richard star for his “violent temper”.
The stunning moment came after Chris made a joke about Jada’s buzz cut, which she was sporting due to hair loss condition alopecia.
After the incident Will – who picked up the Best Actor award for his role in King Richard that evening – was banned from the ceremony for a decade.
With the Oscars taking place again this Sunday and after Chris addressed the slap for the first time in his new Netflix special, Sediuk broke his silence once again.
And he joked that Will, 54, Jada, 51, and Chris, 58, should “have a threesome” together to work out their issues.
‘PROFITING FROM VIOLENCE’
Asked how he thinks Will and Jada have handled the fallout from the slap, Sediuk exclusively told The U.S. Sun: “I think Will should be giving a platform to organizations that deal with violence and acknowledge that he has anger issues.
“Some anger management sessions would be beneficial for him.
“I think all his anger comes from his desire to act like a strong alpha male.
“He couldn’t control that and his emotions reached a peak.
“I believe Jada is entitled and I feel like she juiced the most out of it, especially for her talk show.
“She said that they were healing during her Red Table Talk show after Will’s slap.
“Jada said that she is focused on her book that will come out this year.
“That is profiting off the violence and what happened.”
‘THINK ABOUT A THREESOME’
Jada’s upcoming memoir is due for release in fall this year and promises to be a “no holds barred” account of her relationship with Will.
Chris’s new Netflix special Selective Outrage became the first live global streaming event in the platform’s history last week.
Performing in Baltimore, the comedian and actor quipped: “People always say words hurt.
“Anybody who says words hurt has never been punched in the face.”
He also brought up Jada’s confession of an affair while interviewing Will on her Red Table Talk show in 2020.
Chris said of Jada’s “entanglement” with musician August Alsina, who is 21 years younger than her: “His wife was f****** her son’s friend.”
After the slap last year, it was noted that Chris and Jada had history.
Chris was hosting the Oscars in 2016 when Will and Jada boycotted the ceremony in protest following claims of a lack of ethnic diversity.
Chris Joked on stage: “Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited.”
Putting his two cents in, Sediuk said: “I also think there had been issues between Jada and Chris Rock for years, so the Oscars slap wasn’t a random thing.
“They should think about having a threesome, just let it go and chill.
“I’m sure that would be a solution to the problem.
“They can slap each other in bed and no one will complain.”
‘WHAT ABOUT UKRAINE’
Sediuk, who was speaking from war-torn Ukraine, also said that he felt that the media firestorm after the slap had taken the focus away from the conflict there.
He complained: “When that slap happened, they stole a lot of attention from Ukraine.
“At that time Russian terrorists were in Kyiv region, implementing genocide in Bucha and other cities.
“The slap was discussed for weeks, grabbing one headline after another.
“I didn’t hear Will Smith, Jada or Chris Rock talk about Ukraine or condemn Putin.”
Following his own incident with Will, Sediuk moved on to outright pranks at awards ceremonies and red carpet events.
It saw him jailed for storming the stage at the Grammy Awards, fired by his TV station for crawling under an actresses dress at a premiere and arrested for breaking Brad Pitt’s glasses at another red carpet.
Sediuk’s most recent prank took place at Paris Fashion Week in 2019 when he grabbed Justin Timberlake’s leg.
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith are pictured in LA in November 2022
Vitalii Sediuk has accused Jada Pinkett Smith of cashing in on her husband’s Oscars slap
August Alsina and Jada Pinkett Smith pose together at the BET Awards in Los Angeles, California, in June 2017
