Actress Zoe Kravitz admitted it’s a “scary time to have an opinion” or to make “controversial” “thoughts or anything” after she faced a backlash for how she responded to Will Smith’s 2022 Oscars slap of Chris Rock.
During the 33-year-old actress’ interview for WSJ Magazine, she was asked about her since-deleted Instagram posts, one of which was reportedly captioned with a remark about attending the Academy Awards “where we are apparently assaulting people on stage now,” without specifically naming Smith. The comments were noted by The Hollywood Reporter.
“It’s a scary time to have an opinion or to say the wrong thing or to make controversial art or statements or thoughts or anything,” Kravitz explained. “It’s mostly scary because art is about conversation.”
For her provocative directorial debut, Zoë Kravitz was ready to write her own script https://t.co/xw8PopmdOt
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) August 16, 2022
“That should, in my opinion, always be the point,” she added. “The internet is the opposite of conversation. The internet is people putting things out and not taking anything in.”
One of her deleted posts reportedly showed the actress on the red carpet. She captioned it, “Here’s a picture of my dress at the award show where we are apparently assaulting people on stage now,” THR noted.
A second one showed a shot of her after the ceremony with a caption that read, “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.” Kravitz reportedly was criticized by the “Men In Black” star’s supporters and she later deleted the posts.
“The Batman” star talked about how she’s an “artist,” and being an artist “is not about everybody loving you or everyone thinking you’re hot.”
“It’s about expressing something that will hopefully spark a conversation or inspire people or make them feel seen,” Kravitz shared. “I think I’m in a place right now where I don’t want to express myself through a caption or a tweet. I want to express myself through art.”
The “Divergent” star admitted she’s “torn about what to say” regarding her posts referencing the “King Richard” star slapping the comedian, stating that she has “very complicated feelings around it.”
“I wish I had handled that differently,” she added. “And that’s OK.”