After consoling Will Smith after he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, Denzel Washington spoke publicly about his interaction with Smith and what happened after the awards show.
Washington attended the leadership summit of author and Bishop TD Jakes this Saturday in the morning, where, after talking about faith and his acting career, he was asked about the slap.
“Well, there’s a saying, ‘When the devil ignores you, then you know you’re doing something wrong.’ The devil says, ‘Oh no, leave him alone, he’s my favourite.’ you, maybe it’s because he’s trying to do something right. And for whatever reason, the devil got a hold of that circumstance that night.”Washington said in video of the exchange posted on Jakes’ verified Twitter account.
“Watch out, at your highest, that’s when the devil comes for you”
The star acknowledged that when he witnessed the anger with which Will Smith hit Chris Rock, he could not cross his arms and that is why he immediately got up from his seat to try to mediate the situation. “There was no way I was going to sit there. I’m not like that,” he said.
However, the also Oscar-nominated for The Tragedy of Macbeth He confessed that minutes before the ceremony began, he shared with Will a phrase that could well be considered prescient. “Watch out, at your highest, that’s when the devil comes for you,” she told him.
Denzel Washington prays with Will Smith
Washington said in Saturday’s debate that during Oscar commercial breaks, he talked and prayed with Smith, along with Tyler Perry and Smith’s publicist.
“Fortunately there were people there. Not just me, but others. Tyler Perry immediately came there with me,” he said.
Washington would not say what the three men talked or prayed about after the incident.
Who are we to condemn? I don’t know all the details of the situation, but I know that the only solution was prayer, as I see it,” Washington said Saturday.