DJ Jazzy Jeff Comes in Support of Will Smith over Oscar Slap

Actor and musician DJ Jazzy Jeff recently defended his long-time friend Will Smith for slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars 2022.

DJ Jazzy Jeff, whose real name is Jeff Townes, is known for his work as a hip-hop DJ. He spent almost 10 years recording and touring with Will Smith as DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince. The duo also starred together in the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

In recent years, while Smith focused on bigger things, Jazzy remained focused on his music and released albums and mixtapes. However, the duo reunited several times over the years. In 2019, they released a single together titled “Yo Home to Bel-Air”.

According to Comicbook, Townes described Will Smith’s slapping of Chris Rock as “a lapse in judgment“.

I think the thing that I’ve realized is I don’t know too many people that has had the least amount of lapse of judgment than him. I can name 50 times that he should’ve smacked the s— out of somebody and he didn’t. So, for him to have a lapse in judgment, he’s human. And I think a lot of the criticism comes from the people who don’t think people like that are human.

Jeff Townes

While Will Smith has admitted the severity of his actions, he is yet to talk about it openly in detail. As a long-time friend, Townes explained that Smith is human and is capable of making mistakes. However, many have pointed out that assaulting a comedian over a joke (that many considered harmless) is not professional behavior on Smith’s side.

Will Smith has been banned from the Academy Awards for ten years for his unprofessional behavior.