Zoë Kravitz had to face online backlash after she expressed her opinion about Will Smith’s slap incident at the Oscars earlier this year. The actress says it is a “scary time to have an opinion.”
After Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock for a joke about his wife, Kravitz shared her views on social media without naming Smith directly.
“Here’s a picture of my dress at the award show where we are apparently assaulting people on stage now,” she wrote at the time. In a follow-up post, she added, “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.”
However, the 33-year-old actress had to delete the post after she faced backlash from Smith’s supporters. In an interview with WSJ Magazine on Tuesday, Zoë Kravitz explained how we are living in a “scary time.”
“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,” she said. “It’s mostly scary because art is about conversation. That should, in my opinion, always be the point.”
She went on to say that the internet is “opposite of conversation,” where people want to share things but don’t want to learn anything.
Following the backlash, the actress noted that she is an artist and it’s not necessary for everybody to like her.
“It’s about expressing something that will hopefully spark a conversation or inspire people or make them feel seen,” she added.
Kravitz has reached a point where expressing herself “through a caption or a tweet” is not the priority. She wants to express herself through art. The actress shared that even months after the controversy, she still has “complicated feelings around it.”
“I wish I had handled that differently,” she added. “And that’s OK.”
On the personal front, the actress is dating Channing Tatum. They worked together as voice artists in the 2017 animated movie “The LEGO Batman Movie.” Kravitz was last seen in DC’s “The Batman,” where she played Catwoman, a.k.a. Selina Kyle.
Kravitz will make her directorial debut with “Pussy Island.”
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