Maryland state Sen. Will Smith mistaken for actor after Oscars slap: 'You gotta laugh'

After Sunday night's fiasco at the Oscars when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock for a joke about his wife, Maryland state Sen. William C. Smith Jr. woke up on Monday to a ringing phone because people had confused him for the famous actor.

William Smith Jr. told The Washington Post his Twitter following grew to more than 100 people in a matter of hours and he "got a few messages saying 'you messed up.'"

"Actually it was a little more colorful than that," he told the Post. "You gotta laugh. I needed some levity."

"King Richard" and Oscar-winning actor Will Smith made headlines after he slapped Rock during the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles, Calif., for joking about his wife's hair and the 1990s film G.I Jane, telling the comedian after he struck him to "keep my wife's name out of your f---- mouth."

Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith has alopecia, which causes hair loss.

Smith apologized for the incident on Monday, but the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences said they were investigating Smith's behavior.

In Maryland, Sen. William Smith was on the other side of the country when the slap happened, but that didn't stop the confusion from mounting.

According to a tweet from William Smith's colleague in the state House, users launched a variety of verbal accusations: "u did Chris Rock dirty," and "bro why'd you slap Chris Rock."

William Smith has represented District 20 in Maryland's state Senate since 2016, and he previously served in the House of Delegates and as a director at the Department of Homeland Security, which he was appointed to in 2010.