At the 94th Academy Awards, Will Smith got upset with Chris Rock as the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.
Will walked up to the stage and slapped Chris.
The audience at the Oscars were left shocked as actors Will Smith and Chris Rock had an altercation, that many on social media thought was a scripted joke, to garner attention in a time of dwindling ratings for the awards show.
As Chris Rock took the Oscars stage to present the best documentary award, the comedian made a joke about the actors wife, actor Jada Pinkett Smith and her appearance.
‘Javier Bardem and his wife are both nominated. Now, if she loses, he cant win,’ Rock started his piece, adding, ‘He is praying that Will Smith wins, like, please, lord. Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2, cant wait to see it, all right?’
While the joke made the audience laugh for the most part, including a few ‘oohs and aah’s, Rock added: ‘That was a nice one!’
That’s when things took a seemingly ugly turn.
While Smith laughed a bit in the beginning, Jada was seen rolling her eyes. Soon after, Will went up to the stage and slapped Chris on the face.
Jada has previously opened up about being diagnosed with alopecia. She first opened up about it in 2018, and has since spoken up about her challenges of living with the condition on social media. She had said she had decided to cut her hair short after handfuls of it came out in the shower.
Alopecia is an autoimmune disorder that impacts the hair follicles, resulting in both bald spots and hair loss.
After the ‘slap’, the entire auditorium went silent for a few seconds, Smith returned to his seat while allegedly mouthing ‘Keep my wifes name out of your (expletive) mouth.’
Even though Smith wasn’t miked up, he was audible.
At the end of the exchange, Chris said, ‘That was the greatest night in the history of television.’ leaving many on social media to doubt the legitimacy of the exchange at first.
AP reported that during the commercial break, Daniel Kaluuya came to hug Will and Denzel Washington took him to the side of the stage. They talked and hugged, as Tyler Perry also joined. AP also reported that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban also spoke to Will and Jada during one of the commercial breaks.
Smith went on to win his first Oscar later in the evening. He won Best Actor for his performance in King Richard. In his acceptance speech, Will apologised to the Academy and spoke about the importance of family in his life. He said, ‘I wanna apologize to the Academy to all my fellow nominees. Art imitates life, I look like the crazy father! Love will make you do crazy things.’
Smith plays Richard Williams, father to tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams in the film.
He added, Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family. In this time in my life, in this moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world. Making this film, I got to protect Aunjanue Ellis, who is one of the strongest, most delicate people Ive ever met. I got to protect Saniyya and Demi, the two actresses that played Venus and Serena. Im being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people. I know to do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse. You got to be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business you got to be able to have people disrespecting you. And you got to smile and you got to pretend like thats okay.
Chris Rock declined to file a police report with the LAPD.
‘LAPD investigative entities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program. The incident involved one individual slapping another,’ the statement read. ‘The individual involved has declined to file a police report. If the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report.’