Well, Zoë Kravitz has attempted to wade into the discourse about the Slap — attempted being the operative word. (If you somehow need reminding, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars after Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head.) However, Kravitz quickly faced criticism from those who disagreed with her apparent stance against Smith, leading some to resurface questionable remarks she had made about Will and Jada’s then-underage son, Jaden, in the past.
On Tuesday, Kravitz posted two pictures of her outfits from Sunday night’s Oscars, one from the awards show and one from the Vanity Fair after-party. “Here’s a picture of my dress at the award show where we are apparently assaulting people on stage now,” she wrote, alongside a photo in her pink Saint Laurent gown. “And here is a picture of my dress at the party after the award show — where we are apparently screaming profanities and assaulting people on stage now,” she captioned the second picture, of her white gown, also by Saint Laurent. One Instagram comment asked, “You don’t support him defending his wife?” to which Kravitz responded, “Nope.”
Shortly after her post, Kravitz’s name was trending on Twitter with old clips and comments she had made about Jaden, with whom she worked on the 2013 movie After Earth. (He was 14 when the movie came out; Kravitz was 24.) One of the resurfaced comments comes from a 2013 interview Kravitz did with V magazine. “There were moments that I was hanging out with Jaden and thinking, I can’t believe you’re 14, I have to check myself, like what I say to you,” she said. “He has so much personality and so much swag, he is so much cooler than I am. And he’s so handsome, I was always like, when you’re older, you know, we’ll hang out … Nope, that’s inappropriate, you’re 14.” Another tweet shows an Extra TV clip of Kravitz on the red carpet for the 2014 premiere of Divergent. Kravitz calls Jaden over to where she’s being interviewed. “I dragged him out tonight. This is my date,” she says.
Kravitz’s ties to designer Alexander Wang were also brought into question as Wang has been accused of sexual assault by at least 11 people. Wang initially denied the allegations but later issued a statement promising to “do better,” though he did not apologize outright.
Kravitz is far from the only celebrity to respond to the Slap. She’s not even the only celebrity to receive backlash for their response. However, the swiftness with which people were ready to condemn Kravitz does seem notable. As one person tweeted, “Nothing will ever beat how quickly the internet will switch up on someone.”
