this is "nightline." tonight, the slap. >> oh, wow! >> heard round the world. >> wow. >> overshadowing an otherwise historic night. >> we had so much going on, and all we're going to walk away with is the slap. >> what it felt like. >> will smith just smacked the [ bleep ] out of me. >> inside that moment. >> i swear, you could hear a pin drop. like it was eerily quiet. >> and what will smith is saying tonight. plus, escaping ukraine. they survived the nazi holocaust. now in their waning years, facing putin's bombs. >> he cries all the time because it's too difficult for him to srvive in the second time in his life. >> helping another group of the most vulnerable.

>> so we're in the car, and all we're going to do is drive over the border, as long as they let me back in. and kim kardashian, robin roberts' exclusive interview. >> you made the recent statement about women in business, and it got a lot of backlash. >> it did, yeah. >> what kardashian says now. >> "nightline" will be right back.

thanks for joining us. tonight will smith is apologizing publicly to chris rock, saying he was out of line and wrong after he stunned millions of oscar viewers worldwide by smacking the comedian in the face after a hurtful joke. but the incident and the intense fallout stealing the show on what otherwise would have been a groundbreaking night. whatever you call it, a slap, a smackdown, it was heard loud and clear around the world, overshadowing a night of historic firsts. >> oh, wow! wow. >> i was absolutely stunned. >> we were all in shock, those of us inside of the theater. like was that a stunt slap or was that something that was completely unexpected? >> reporter: will smith striking chris rock on stage at the oscars. the tense confrontation happening just seconds after rock made this joke about smith's wife, jada pinkett smith. >> jada, i love you.

"gi jane 2." can't wait to see it. >> you can see jada roll her eyes. smith seems to laugh it off. then smith gets up on stage. >> that was a nice one. okay. i'm out here -- uh-oh. richard. oh, wow! wow. will smith just smacked the [ bleep ] out of me. >> much of what you didn't hear at home air on some international feeds. >> name out your [ bleep ] mouth. >> wow, dude. >> yes. >> it was a gi jane joke. >> keep my wife's name out your [ bleep ] mouth. >> i'm going to, okay? okay. >> all of us were kind of silent. >> that was a greatest night in the history of television. okay. >> there were a lot of people inside of that auditorium. you could hear a pin drop.

like it was eerily quiet. >> chris rock made an awful choice making that terrible joke about jada pinkett smith. and in that moment what he did was the height of crass, and in some ways the height i would argue of sexism. but 30 seconds later, he models a very interesting type of masculinity where he didn't feel like he had to get in the gut were will smith, and instead did his job and didn't resort to violence. >> okay. so we are here to give a documentary out. >> amy schumer made that great joke when she comes back into the audience when -- >> did i miss anything? there's like -- there's like a different vibe in here. >> did the vibe in the room change? >> the vibe in the room definitely changed. you could cut the tension with a knife. it just felt different because no one really knew what to do with it. >> and less than an hour later, smith taking the stage again,

accepting the award for best actor for "king richard" to a standing ovation, his first oscar. >> i'm being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people. i want to be a vessel for love. >> apologizing but not to rock. >> i want to apologize to the academy. i want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. love will make you do crazy things. >> let's look at the variety of responses that flowed out of this. by the looks of it from a tv audience, there was no accountability. there was no consequence for that behavior. >> will smith was not asked to leave. will smith was allowed to give an oscar victory speech. he was at the vanity fair after

party. all of the things that could be signals that his behavior was unacceptable were not there. quite the contrary. >> as the world debated and dissected it from every angle -- >> they want us to be edgy. they want us to go out and say things other people are thinking. they want us to take a risk and then they get mad. >> outrage pouring in. the academy condemning smith's actions and launching a formal review. tonight smith taking to instagram to apologize to chris rock by name, saying "violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. my behavior at last night's academy awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. ." he also said jokes at my expense are part of the job. but a joke about jada's medical condition was too much for me to bear and i reacted emotionally. jada has been candid about her struggle with hair loss due to a condition called alopecia. >> this is going to be a little more difficult for me to hide. >> sharing her story on

instagram and on her show, red table talk. >> i was in shower one day, and then handfuls of hair just in my hands. and i was like oh my god, am i going bald? >> let's start with the joke itself, right. it made reference to her hair. why is that such a in some ways a low blow? >> it struck a nerve not just in jada, but in people all around the country and really around the world because black women have had to navigate a world where their hair, as it grows out of their head is seen as wrong, ugly, shameful. and then on top of that, jada pinkett smith has been very open about her battles with alopecia. so when he makes that joke, it humiliated her. and that's what made it beyond the pale. >> in recent years, the family has opened up about their personal challenges, including a childhood touched by domestic violence. smith spoke with my colleague t.j. holmes last year. >> i always had this sense of

being a coward because i watched my father beat up my mother, and i didn't do anything, you know. and for a 9-year-old, that's like -- it's hard to break that programing. >> i've heard people who themselves come from traumatized and abusive backgrounds who say this was triggering, that this man stood up and not only apologized but chris rock, but then stood up and seemed to conflate love with violence. >> in pursuing his vision of love through violence, will smith didn't just hit chris rock. he also triggered an entire group of people who were forced to grow up in those households. he struck a nerve with people in ways i don't think he can fully anticipate. i want to be very clear about it. i understand where will smith is coming from. his wife was attacked for no reason, verbally.

i completely understand why will smith did it i just wish he would have made a different choice. i don't demonize will smith. i wish will had done something different in that moment. >> after the oscars, the smiths, ignoring questions from the press as they walked the blue carpet at the vanity fair after party. smith smiling with his family, and then partying and dancing with his gold statue. >> those of us who had tickets to go to the governor's ball after the telecast, that's all everybody was talking about. which is unfortunate, again, because this is a night where a woman won best director, where a streaming film made history. and yes, where a former rapper turned actor finally collected a best acting trophy. and the thing we're talking about is none of those things. >> the 94th year of hollywood's biggest night of the year marked by historic firsts, nearly overlooked. the first all black production team led by hollywood veteran will packer. >> because reputation matters.

imagery matters. there is some kid throughout that says i don't look like all the other 94 producers, but i look like that guy. >> ariana debose, the first openly queer woman of color. >> there is a place for us. thank you to the academy and thank you all. >> apple tv plus becoming the first streamer to win best picture with "coda." and one of that film's stars, troy kotsur taking home best supporting actor, the first deaf actor to do so. >> we had so much going on, and all we're going to walk away with is the slap. so in that since, will smith didn't just have a moment, he took all the oxygen out of the room and really his peers, his fellow artists had to pay a price for it. >> and up next, ukraine's holocaust survivors, elderly and vulnerable. the heroic efforts to get them out. before treating your chronic migraine,

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ukraine is claiming another small victory in its battle against the russian invaders. president zelenskyy saying tonight the country's forces have retaken irpin, a city 30 miles from the capital kyiv, that has been under heavy bombardment since the start of the war. as the humanitarian crisis deepens, an estimated 10,000 holocaust survivors are experiencing the horrors of war and human cruelty again. here is abc's matt gutman, who spent weeks in the region on the urgent international efforts to save them. >> reporter: in walkers and

wheelchairs, they are helped into vans repurposed into ambulances. >> come inside. >> reporter: the bundles of what's most precious follow behind. in semi clandestine missions, nearly every day and often at night, dozens of survivors of the nazi holocaust are being spirited out of ukraine. >> we thought it was the last day of our life as a matter of fact. >> reporter: her 85-year-old father valuelery is one such suffer, the family desperately trying to flee. >> but then my father fainted. there in the crowd, he felt so bad that he couldn't survive the event longer. so there was small room there which was called a medical service room. yeah, and he was taken there and spend the night there. >> they had no choice but to return to her father's apartment. they did their best to prote protective nez's 8-year-old

daughter. she has probably seen horrific things for someone so young. >> she has spent most of the days and the nights being covered with blankets in the corner of the room which we found to be the safest because the walls there are the thickest. >> reporter: kharkiv, the second largest city in ukraine, has been under nearly daily attacks since russia invaded with hundreds of civilians reportedly killed by russian shelling. including a 96-year-old who lived through four different concentration camps during world war ii, only to be killed last week. a fate ina feared her father would share if he stayed behind. >> he spoke about making us leave without him, but he can't look after himself and he would starve to death there. >> reporter: the threat to valery and an estimated 10,000 other holocaust survivors in ukraine comes as putin uses nazism to justify an invasion of their country. in part claiming that ukraine is run by thugs and nazis.

even though ukrainian president zelenskyy is jewish, whose relatives were murdered in the holocaust. putin's version of history is part of the motivation of many to help the holocaust survivors who are finding themselves in the middle of a war zone yet again. >> they are the history that should dictate the future. they're the moral compass. >> reporter: ten time zones away in los angeles, julia enten got a call for help to get the family out of ukraine. what happened after that first call? >> at first i panicked. i wasn't sure i was up for the ask. >> jimmy: julia grew up in moscow during the soviet union era. she now works as a paralegal helping holocaust survivors on reparation cases, inspired in part by her activist parents. her volunteer work in ukraine now looping her into a sprawling network of activists in israel, ukraine, england and the u.s., all trying to help rescue efforts.

>> we had to create a certain level of trust, because, again, you are thousands of miles away. and it is probably equally unreal to them that somebody thousands of miles away is going to help them with something that seems impossible. >> reporter: eventually, julia connected with safe bow, headed by lgbtq activist rain dove. >> we are now in the car, and all we're going to do is drive over the border. >> we have to find a driver who is willing to go and risk their lives to go and knock on a door and see if they can find them. it's a very chaotic process. we are pioneers in an era of innovation that has never occurred. we have people like julia, doesn't even have to leave their bedroom, and yet can personally guide a holocaust survivor across the country and get resources for them every step of the way. >> reporter: but sometimes these survivors like ina's father are

reluctant to leave. >> he didn't want to leave his home, of course. he tried and kissed the front door. literally kissed the front door. i would say that it's unbearable. >> reporter: i asked valuel val about that experience. why did he kiss the front door in kharkiv? >> he said because it's his motherland, and because everything he loves is connected with it. he has lived there for 80 years, and well, it's very, very difficult to break this link. >> these people managed to live through the first round of the unthinkable. that's why i think we owe it to them. >> reporter: on march 13th, the help of julia and rain, the family made it out. but just as valery suffered

years of abuse in the holocaust, his granddaughter now suffering similar scars. is there a strange symmetry what your granddaughter experienced and your father? >> i believe that her trauma is even worse than any father's at the time because he was very young. when we arrived in warsaw, there was a loud bang with people just naturally strolling around looking at the sights. she was absolutely sure that bombs were falling down because she was so used to hearing all that. >> reporter: the family is now finally safe in a small town in germany. ina's daughter learning how to play again. valery taking daily walks, aware of the irony of a holocaust survivor seeking safety in germany. >> he cries all the time because it's too difficult for him to survive the second time in his life, and he didn't expect that this would ever, ever happen to him. >> reporter: and over the weekend, this group landing in

israel. and every day more of those survivors delivered to safety, offering tearful hugs of relief and those smiles of gratitude. >> our thanks to matt. up next, robin roberts has an exclusive interview with kim kardashian, responding to the backlash over her controversial statements about women and work. i always wanted a house with historic architecture... but it might be too victorian? oh gosh, what an interesting hemline on those... pants? yes, i do believe they are called pants! pardon me! no! pardon me. at least geico makes bundling my home and car insurance easy. i save so much. (knocking) i have come to call upon... just text me! argh! well i'm heading up. it's a ghost! for bundling made easy, go to geico.com. it's called self-care. i don't just play someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientist. and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements,

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and finally tonight, kim kardashian is speaking openly about statements she made recently that upset many. she spoke exclusively to robin roberts. >> when you made the recent statement about women in

business, and it got a lot of backlash. >> it did, yeah. >> and saying go to work, get up and go to work. what did you mean by that? and what do you want to say now about it? >> well, that statement that i said was without questions and conversation around it. and it became a sound bite really with no context. and that sound bite i came off of the notion. and the question right before, which was after 20 years of being in the business, you're famous for being famous. and i -- my whole tone and attitude changed with the previous question that went into that question about what advice would you give to women. and the advice that i would give is having a social media presence and being on a reality show does not mean overnight success. and you have to really work hard to get there, even if it might seem like it's easy and that you

can build a really successful business off social media. and you can if you put in a lot of hard work. and it wasn't a blanket statement towards women or to feel like i don't respect the work or think that they don't work hard. i know that they do. it was taken out of context. but i am really sorry if it was received that way. >> the full robin roberts special with the kardashians will air april 6th at 8:00 eastern on abc. that's "nightline" for tonight. you can watch all of our full episodes on hulu. you can watch all of our full episodes on hulu. we'll s ♪ ♪ thousands of women with metastatic breast cancer... are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr+/her2- metastatic breast cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole.