Denzel Washington Recounts Will Smith's Slap at the Oscars: 'The Devil Got Ahold of Him'

Denzel Washington is weighing in on what happened at the 2022 Oscars.

The 67-year-old actor made an appearance at author and bishop T.D. Jakes’ leadership summit on Saturday morning (April 2), where he discussed the confrontation between Will Smith and Chris Rock at the awards show.

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“Well, there’s a saying, ‘When the devil ignores you, then you know you’re doing something wrong.’ The devil goes, ‘Oh no, leave him alone, he’s my favorite.’ Conversely, when the devil comes at you, maybe it’s because he’s trying to do something right. And for whatever reason the devil got ahold of him that night,” Denzel said, per Variety.

Denzel was seen speaking with Will during the commercial break, after the King Richard actor went on stage and slapped Chris Rock for making a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith‘s hair.

Will went on to thank Denzel in his acceptance speech for Best Actor and shared that The Tragedy of Macbeth star had told him, “At your highest moment, be careful, that’s when the devil comes for you.”

“Fortunately there were people there. Not just me, but others, Tyler Perry, came immediately right over there with me. [Said] some prayers. I don’t wanna say what we talked about, but there but for the grace of God go any of us. Who are we to condemn? I don’t know all the ins and outs of the situation, but I know the only solution was prayer, the way I see it,” Denzel said on Saturday.

On Friday, Will resigned from The Academy in the wake of his actions at the Oscars and released a statement about his behavior.