‘That was assault.’ Will Smith smacks, curses Chris Rock live on Oscars stage
The Academy Awards in Los Angeles came to a momentary tense stop Sunday night when actor Will Smith smacked comedian Chris Rock live on stage.
Rock was making some jokes before presenting an award and joked about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith.
Pinkett Smith has a shaved head and has been open about her hair loss issues. Rock joked that he hadn’t yet seen Pinkett Smith’s G.I. Jane 2, a fictitious sequel to Demi Moore’s original, in which Moore shaved her head for the part.
At the moment, Will Smith laughed at the joke, but he then got up from his front-row seat to confront Rock on Stage. Rock seemed to think Smith was playing around but when Smith reached Rock, he slapped Rock with an open hand.
Smith went back to his seat and cursed to Rock to keep his wife’s name out of his mouth. Footage with audio from international feeds to the telecast quickly made their way on social media.
Smith later won best actor for his performance in “King Richard.”
Smith alluded to the incident during his acceptance speech, opening his comments by comparing himself to Richard Williams, the person he portrays in the film, who would “do anything to protect his family.”
“Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams,” Smith said during his acceptance speech. “But love will make you do crazy things.”
“I want to apologize to the Academy,” Smith said. “I want to apologize to my fellow nominees.”
Smith, however, did not apologize to Rock.
After midnight, the Academy Awards posted a statement on social media.
“The Academy does not condone violence of any form,” the Twitter post said. “Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.”
This story was originally published March 27, 2022 at 10:18 PM.
