'At least I didn't slap anybody:' UK's Rishi Sunak gives Will Smith reference

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been under fire recently over his wife Akshata Murthy's stake in Indian IT services giant Infosys. In an interview, Sunak drew an interesting parallel between him and Hollywood superstar Will Smith and his recent Oscar fiasco. 

Smith has been all over the news recently for clapping comedian Chris Rock at this year's Oscars over a joke Rock cracked about Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head. 

Sunak stated that both his and Smith's wife have been under attack however, at least he has not slapped anyone."On reflection, both Will Smith and me having our wives attacked - at least I didn't get up and slap anybody, which is good," he said,"Sunak told the BBC's 'Newscast' podcast on Thursday.

Smith also made a comparison to England cricket captain Joe Root saying, "'Joe Root, Will Smith, and me - not the best of weekends for any of us.' Joe Root has been under mounting pressure recently over a string of losses suffered by the English side with many demanding he drop the skipper's cap. 

Sunak's wife and her family has been facing criticism over Infosys' continued presence in Moscow amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Indian-origin finance minister is the son-in-law of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy.

"It's very upsetting and, I think, wrong for people to try and come at my wife, and you know, beyond that actually, with regard to my father-in-law, for whom I have nothing but enormous pride and admiration for everything that he's achieved. And no amount of attempted smearing is going to make me change that because he's wonderful and has achieved a huge amount, as I said, I'm enormously proud of him," he said.

During his BBC radio interview this week, he was also questioned about the cost of living crisis in the UK with rising energy costs and Opposition criticism of last month's mini-Budget not going far enough to help poor households.

"I'm confident in what we've done. I know it's tough for people," Sunak told the BBC.

"We're facing a very difficult situation with the price of things going up and I want to do what we can to ameliorate some of that, but I'm also honest with people that we can't ameliorate all of it, sadly," he said.

Also read: Infosys is shutting its Russia office: Report

Also read: Rishi Sunak questioned over Infosys presence in Moscow