‘That was assault.’ Will Smith smacks, curses Chris Rock live on Oscars stage
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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.
VIA JAPANESE TELEVISION: The uncensored exchange between Will Smith and Chris Rock pic.twitter.com/j0Z184ZyXa
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) March 28, 2022
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.”
Let me tell you something, it’s a very bad practice to walk up on stage and physically assault a Comedian.
Now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theaters.— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) March 28, 2022
“Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family”
- First words out of Will Smith’s mouth— Jamal Andress (@JamalAndress) March 28, 2022
Seems like Will Smith’s plan to get comedians and the world to not make jokes about him is not going to pan out. The Williams family must be furious. Pure narcissism. Also- GI Jane was gorgeous. What exactly is insulting about being compared to a ripped, stunning Demi? #Oscars
— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) March 28, 2022
During the commercial break, Will Smith is pulled aside and comforted by Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry, who motion for him to brush it off. Will appears to wipe tears from his eyes as he sits back down with Jada, with Denzel comforting Jada and Will’s rep by his side. pic.twitter.com/uDGVnWrSS2
— Scott Feinberg (@ScottFeinberg) March 28, 2022
If you said Chris Rock has a better chin than [insert boxer], congrats, you made the Overworked Twitter Joke of the Week.
h/t @Danny_Heifetz— Bryan Curtis (@bryancurtis) March 28, 2022
dog, that's the wildest thing i've ever seen.
— bomani (@bomani_jones) March 28, 2022
Serious question: Is Will Smith going to be charged with assault? Because that was assault. #Oscars
— George Hahn (@georgehahn) March 28, 2022