Will Smith’s teary apology to the Academy and his fellow nominees

The auspicious event of Oscars 2022 was a hell of a ride. And one of the most shocking moments was the whole Will and Chris’ sequence. Nevertheless, Will had the honor of winning the Best Actor Award for his performance in King Richard. Delivering an emotional speech, Smith broke down as he accepted the big honor of the evening.

"I want to apologize to the Academy. I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying for winning an award. It’s not about winning an award for me. It’s about being able to shine a light on all of the people. Tim and Trevor and Zack and Saniyya and Demi and Aunjanue and the entire cast and crew of ‘King Richard,’ Venus and Serena, the entire Williams family. Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams."

He further praised his director, "I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people. I know to do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse. You got to be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you got to be able to have people disrespecting you. And you got to smile and you got to pretend like that’s okay."

The actor beat fellow nominees Andrew Garfield, Benedict Cumberbatch, Javier Bardem, and Denzel Washington to take home the top honor.