Will Smith Wins Best Actor For 'King Richard' At 2022 BET Awards

Actor Will Smith won the Best Actor Awards at the 2022 BET Awards for his role in "King Richard."

Unfortunately, he wasn't there to receive it. "The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air" has been keeping a low profile ever since last March, when he slapped presenter Chris Rock at the 94th annual Academy Awards ceremony.

At the 2022 Oscars ceremony, Chris Rock made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, comparing her hair loss condition, alopecia, to "G.I. Jane." Smith walked on stage, slapped Rock, before he resumed his seat, and cursed him out. Shortly after, Smith was called back on stage to accept his first-ever Academy Award for Best Actor Oscar. Although he did not apologize to Rock until the morning after in a brief Instagram post, he did apologize to the Academy and to those watching at home for his behavior.

Shortly after, the "Independence Day" actor popped up in India, where it looked like he was doing some deep healing and reflection as to why he lashed out at Rock in a slap seen around the world. Many of his movie projects were canceled in the wake of the assault, and although Rock declined to press charges against him, it seems that Smith is still trying to stay out of the limelight for now.

On Sunday night, Will Smith was up against Sterling K. Brown, Jabari Banks, Forest Whitaker, Denzel Washington, Damson Idris, Anthony Anderson, and Adrian Holmes for the Best Actor prize and came out on top, although he chose not to attend the star-studded ceremony. His movie, "King Richard," also won Best Movie, against "Candyman," "Respect," "Space Jam: A New Legacy," "Summer of Soul," and "The Harder They Fall."

Aunjanue Ellis was also nominated for Best Actress for her role in "King Richard," but the award went to Zendaya for her roles in "Euphoria" and "Spider-Man: No Way Home." She was also up against Coco Jones, Issa Rae, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Queen Latifa, Quinta Brunson, and Regina King.

On June 1, Jada Pinkett Smith appeared on a new episode of the Red Table Talk on Facebook Watch to host a special episode about her hair loss condition and invited others who also struggle with alopecia to talk about their experiences.

Jada began the episode by explaining that “thousands” have reached out to her with their own stories about alopecia since the Oscars slap. “This is a really important Red Table Talk on alopecia. Considering what I’ve been through with my own health and what happened at the Oscars, thousands have reached out to me with their stories,” Jada began.

“I’m using this moment to give our alopecia family an opportunity to talk about what it’s like to have this condition and to inform people about what alopecia actually is,” she continued.

Jada then revealed that the two men have yet to reconcile their friendship, although she expressed hope that the two will eventually do so.

“Now about Oscar night, my deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out and reconcile,” Jada went on. “The state of the world today, we need them both. And we all actually need one another more than ever. Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years, and that’s keep figuring out this thing called life together. Thank you for listening.”

This is the first time that Jada has addressed the Oscars slap since the season premiere of the Red Table Talk earlier this year. Before the season debut, a message appeared on the screen that said:

“Considering all that has happened in the last few weeks, the Smith family has been focused on deep healing. Some of the discoveries around our healing will be shared at the table when the time calls.”

It remains to be seen if Jada will be able to sit both Rock and Smith down at the Red Table to hash things out and repair their friendship, but fans have their fingers crossed that things will be worked out soon.