Courtney B. Vance is recalling a time when he had to encourage his wife Angela Bassett to “just keep walking.”
During an appearance on Power 105.1 FM’s The Breakfast Club last week, Vance, 62, discussed Will Smith striking Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards, and said he and Bassett, 63, once faced a situation where she considered responding to a stranger who approached them in baggage claim at an airport.
“[The fan] wanted an autograph. I said, ‘It’s not appropriate right now. Please give us our [privacy]. If you recognize us, then [others] will, and it’ll be on,’ ” said Vance.
The actor said the fan then “cussed [Angela] out” and tried “to provoke her” as she continued to follow the couple at the airport.
“I said, ‘Angie, just keep walking, baby. Just keep walking. We’re going to our car. Just keep walking,’ ” Vance continued.
According to the 61st Street star, the fan then said, “I never liked your movies anyway!” Vance said the fan “wanted to provoke” Bassett to turn around and get “a reaction out of her,” but he managed to persuade his wife otherwise.
“You have to understand the situation and be able to sometimes know [when] it’s time to step up and say, ‘Don’t you dare,’ and sometimes you just gotta just walk away,” he said.
“What we don’t wanna see is Angela Bassett pimp-slapping [anybody],” Vance joked. “You ain’t getting [a reaction]. We’re not going down like that.”
“We worked too hard for an incident that’s just gonna be folklore in our mind,” he added.
Will Smith, 53, hit Chris Rock in the face on stage at the Oscars on March 27, after the 57-year-old comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith‘s hair.
Will has since publicly apologized to Rock and admitted he was “wrong” for reacting emotionally in the moment. He announced Friday that he was resigning from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences due to his behavior at the ceremony, where he won Best Actor.
