A TV presenter who was slapped by Will Smith at a movie premiere a decade ago has slammed the Oscar-winner’s “violent temper”.
Ukrainian reporter-turned-prankster Vitalii Sediuk was pushed and given a backhanded slap to the face after he hugged and tried to kiss Smith, 53, on the red carpet.
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The incident took place at the Moscow opening of Men in Black 3 in May 2012 while Sediuk, now 33, was working for a Ukrainian television station.
The Ukrainian national spoke out following Smith’s shocking attack on host Chris Rock at the Oscars for making a joke about the first-time Academy Award winner’s wife Jada Pinkett’s short cropped hair.
Pinkett, 50, has spoken openly about her struggle with alopecia, a medical condition which leads to hair loss.
Sediuk said: “I just immediately recollected the slapping incident in Moscow.
“I think the joke was inappropriate when it comes to someone’s health but Will’s reaction is unnecessary and sends the wrong message to comedians – being beaten for a joke.
“Will Smith’s audience are mostly tough men and he was sort of trying to be super protective and prove that he is a ‘real man’ that defends his family and he beat the guy for a bad joke.
“I don’t want to call Will Smith uncontrollable.
“(He has a) violent temper, yes, but I’m sure he realizes what he is doing.
“But we also can state that his family is more important to him than the Oscars, which is not bad.
“He did defend his wife after a truly bad joke.
“The issue was how he did that. I’m sure he could have found a classier way.
“Also don’t forget that he is A-list and being A-list in Hollywood means that you can get away with a lot of stuff.
“A-listers can get away with everything.”
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Smith apologised to the Academy in his tearful acceptance speech after winning the Best Actor award on Sunday – but has not publicly said sorry to Rock.
Sediuk says that King Richard star Smith never reached out to him since the incident took place in 2012.
The Ukrainian did publicly apologize at the time but says that he wouldn’t do so now.
Smith can be seen in footage from the red carpet saying “Hey! Come on!” as he pushes Sediuk away.
He then says “What the hell is your problem, buddy?” before slapping the then-reporter in the face.
Smith revealed in 2018 that he had spoken with rap superstar Jay-Z about the incident shortly after it happened.
In an interview with Rap Radar podcast, he claimed that Jay-Z told him: “It was such a breath of fresh air to see you be authentic.”
Speaking from near the besieged Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Sediuk told The Sun: “I joked that Will was practicing with me then because it was a much harder slap to Chris Rock than Will gave me.
“But even with me it still was hard. You can’t see that well on video but it was hard enough.
“It hurt but I was OK.
“There was not any idea (behind the hug and kiss) at that moment, I was just a reporter not a prankster at that time.
“I wanted an exclusive and not just a common question about the movie so I went for a hug and a cheek kiss.
“Hugging and kissing is a common practice in Slavic countries and I asked Will for a hug in that clip so it wasn’t spontaneous.
“It was just Will Smith’s unwillingness to take a cheek kiss.
“Nothing wrong with that, not all people like that.”
PRANKSTER
Following the incident with Smith, Sediuk moved on to outright pranks at awards ceremonies and red carpet events.
In 2013, he was jailed for storming the stage at the Grammy Awards as Adele was accepting an award for best pop solo performance.
He was charged with one count of wilfully leaving a spectator area and one count of entering a performance area and interfering and delaying program participants, pled no contest and was given a six-month suspended sentence.
Then in 2014 he grabbed Bradley Cooper by the legs at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and briefly buried his face in Leo DiCaprio’s groin at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
He was fired from 1+1 television station after crawling under America Ferrera’s gown as she posed for pics at the premiere of How to Train Your Dragon 2.
And in May that year he was arrested after making contact with Brad Pitt and breaking his glasses at a movie premiere in Hollywood.
Pitt was granted an emergency restraining order against Sediuk, who pled no contest to battery and unlawful activity and was sentenced to 20 days of community service.
In May 2017 he received a fine after streaking at the Eurovision song contest while Ukrainian singer Jamala performed the song I Believe in U.
Sediuk’s most recent prank took place at Paris Fashion Week in 2019 when he grabbed Justin Timberlake’s leg.
The prankster apologized to celebrities for his stunts in an interview with Mario Lopez on showbiz TV show Extra following the Brad Pitt incident.
He said: “I apologize for inconveniences that I created to many celebrities dealing with my style of entertainment.
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