has recalled being ‘bullied ridiculously’ as a schoolkid in an unearthed interview just two months before his controversial hosting slot at this week’s Oscars which culminated in .
The comedian was presenting an award on Sunday eve when he cracked a joke about Will’s wife Jada Pinket Smith’s hair. After Jada – who has been open about her struggles with alopecia – rolled her eyes, Will stormed the stage and smacked Chris across the face before returning to his seat and yelling at the presenter.
In an interview recorded for not long before the altercation, Chris expressed that he’s let people ‘walk all over’ him since childhood.
On the podcast’s January 12 episode, Chris recalled his childhood, explaining: ‘Half of the bullying was because I was just a little guy. Then I got bused to school and the bullying was because I was little guy and I was Black. I was getting double bullied.’
Taking matters into his own hands, Chris remembered one time he was pushed around by one guy: ‘I went home, I put a brick in a book bag — this is like a legendary story in my neighborhood — I swung that s**t and smacked the guy in the face with this brick and stomped on him, Joe Pesci-style, to the point we thought he might die.’
According to a therapist Chris had seen, the moment had a lasting effect on him.
He said: ‘Long story short, from that day on, as my shrink puts it to me, you have been scared to be angry ever since. The guy you saw was bending over backwards to be nice because I was so scared of my anger.’
The therapist also said the comedian was ‘so scared of that thing coming out at you again’ that he let’s ‘the whole world walk over’ him, but Chris insisted he does ‘get angry’ but can better process his emotions now.
The former SNL star said: ‘I’m not scared of letting people know how I feel about certain things. Now, I can say, “Hey I don’t like what you said to me,” without losing my head, without hitting someone on the head with a frickin’ brick.’
Chris is yet to publicly comment on the Oscars slap and is yet to address , however it’s understood he was not aware of Jada’s alopecia, and has also declined to press charges.
It remains to be seen whether he’ll speak on the matter in his return to the stage on Wednesday night in Boston, after this afternoon ahead of the show.
Will wrote in part on social media in an apology to Chris after the Oscars: ‘I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.
‘There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.’
