Will Smith made his first appearance on a major TV interview since March—when the award-winning actor slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars—on The Daily Show alongside host, Trevor Noah. Smith appeared on the show to promote his new movie Emancipation, and was also asked some questions about the infamous Oscars night.

Smith told Noah, “There’s many nuances and complexities to it, you know? But at the end of the day, I just…I lost it.” On the night of the Oscars, Chris Rock made a joke about actress Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head. Smith took offence to the joke because his wife has alopecia, and in retaliation, walked onto the stage and slapped Rock. The actor did eventually apologise to Rock, resigning from the Academy that also banned him from attending its events for the next ten years.

The Daily Show host tried to contextualise Smith’s actions in light of the way his family has been treated on social media in the recent past and having to deal with an endless barrage of opinions and hate. According to Smith, “It was a lot of things. It was the little boy that watched his father beat up his mother, you know? All of that, just bubbled up in that moment, you know? I just… That’s not who I want to be.” He continued, “…I was gone. That was a rage that had been bottled for a really long time.”

Noah—who has now entered his last week as host of the Comedy Central talk show—sympathised with Smith, saying he wished that the actor weren’t defined by one of his worst moments. Smith responded, “I think that was one of the big things for me over this last couple of months, you know? That I had to forgive myself for being human, you know?”

Chris Rock is yet to address the incident, although he has made jokes about it in passing. Rock may yet do so in his upcoming special though, the first ever to be streamed live on Netflix.