D.J. Jazzy Jeff is one of Will Smith's oldest friends and longest-running collaborators. The legendary DJ recently shared his thoughts on Smith’s assault against Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards. In a conversation with Chicago radio station WGCI-FM, Jeff talked about his longtime friend and the backlash that ensued.

“Don’t get it twisted that, you know, this would be something that he’s proud of. It was a lapse in judgement, you know?” Jeff said. “I don’t know too many people that has [sic] had the least amount of lapses in judgement than him. I can name 50 times that he should have smacked the sh*t out of somebody and he didn’t. For him to have a lapse in judgment—he’s human."

During the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, Smith walked onstage and smacked comedian Chris Rock after Rock made a joke about Smith's wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith. He addressed the incident moments later in a tearful acceptance speech after he won the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in the drama King Richard.

In the days after the much-discussed incident, Smith subsequently resigned from the Academy; and the Academy announced that the star would be banned from the Academy Awards and all Academy functions for ten years. Over that time, Smith cannot attend the awards ceremony in person or virtually, but he can still be nominated and win. There have been reports that streaming giant Netflix has “backed away” from the proposed Fast and Loose film starring Smith, and some other projects have reportedly been paused. Chris Rock has not officially spoken on the incident, but joked recently that he will not speak about it until he gets paid.