While accepting his Oscar for Best Actor, Will Smith apologized to the Academy and to his fellow nominees for striking presenter Chris Rock on the stage of the Dolby Theatre.

Smith did not directly apologize to Rock, but he made a comparison to his character Richard Williams in "King Richard" by saying that the father of Venus and Serena Williams was a "fierce defender of his family."

"I want to apologize to the Academy, I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment, and I am not crying for winning an award. It's not about winning an award for me," Smith said following a standing ovation. "Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like Richard Williams ... but love will make you do crazy things."

He continued: "I'm being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a rigor to my people. I know to do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse, you have to be able to have people talk crazy about you. You got to be able to have people disrespecting people, and you gotta smile and pretend like that's OK," Smith said. "And Denzel said to me a few minutes ago, 'At your highest moment, be careful, that's when the Devil comes for you.' I want to be a vessel for love. I want to say, thank you to Venus and Serena … I want to thank them for trusting me with their story. I want to be an ambassador for that kind of love, care and sure."