An MP whose dad was killed in a ‘one-punch’ attack has said it would be a ‘dream’ to meet with Will Smith after he slapped Chris Rock live on stage at this year’s Oscars.
In the early hours of Tuesday Morning, Smith issued a public apology on social media over the shocking incident, which occurred after Rock made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, after it was known that she had been diagnosed with hair loss condition alopecia.
‘Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive,’ the King Richard star said in his statement, before writing: ‘I would like to publicly apologise to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong.’
On Tuesday’s edition of GMB, co-hosts Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid welcomed Bishop Auckland’s MP Dehenna Davison onto the programme, whose father was killed 15 years ago in a ‘one-punch’ attack after a single blow when she was 13 years old.
The Conservative politician has written a letter addressed to Smith, in which she explained how she and other people who have lost loved ones in one-punch attacks felt over seeing Smith strike Rock at the Academy Awards.
After being elected as MP, Davison also set up the All Party Parliamentary Group on One Punch Assaults and began working with the charity One Punch UK.
Davison told Madeley and Reid how she was a ‘huge Fresh Prince fan as a kid’, having watched Smith’s career ‘develop since then’.
Madeley then asked her what she would like to happen next after publishing the letter so Smith.
‘In an ideal world, other than a polite reply, what would you actually like him to do?’ the presenter asked.
‘Because presumably what you’re all about in this particular area of human behaviour is raising awareness that we think of these things as a biff on the nose, a bit of a punch-up – it can kill. And that’s the awareness you are trying to raise, that just one punch can do it.’
The politician responded: ‘Well the dream world is that he would respond and actually meet with our group and come and hear some of the stories of people who’ve lost loved ones through these assaults. Single punches, single blows.
‘Because what we find, it’s not always cases like my dad, where it’s a really violent heavy blow, sometimes it’s just a small blow that takes someone completely off guard.’
Continuing, she explained that victims may ‘stumble backwards, hit their head and that causes fatal brain injury’.
Madeley remarked that a victim of a one-punch blow may have an ‘underlying weakness in the brain’ or ‘an aneurysm which could go at any time’.
‘That’s why raising awareness about this is so important, cause there aren’t a huge number of cases, but for those families that are affected, it completely shapes the rest of your life,’ Davison replied.
In his apology, Smith wrote: ‘I would also like to apologise to the Academy, the producers of the show, all the attendees and everyone watching around the world. I would like to apologise to the Williams Family and my King Richard Family.
‘I deeply regret that my behaviour has stained what has been an otherwise gorgeous journey for all of us.’
The Academy has launched a formal investigation into the incident, stating that it ‘condemns the actions of Mr Smith’.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.
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