Will Smith Hits Chris Rock at Oscars for Joking About Jada Pinkett Smith

It’s safe to say you’ve never seen one Oscar nominee in a tuxedo smack another live during the ceremony. But on Sunday evening Oscars 2022that’s exactly what happened.

Comedian Chris Rock was on stage and joked about Jada Pinkett Smith, who currently has short hair alopecia, and said, “Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see you.” Then Pinkett Smith’s husband, actor Will Smith, came on stage and appeared to slap Rock in the face. As the audio quickly muted on the US TV show, Australian and Japanese viewers heard Smith tell Rock twice, “Keep my wife’s name out of your friggin’ mouth.”

LA Times writer Amy Kaufman took to Twitter to explain what might have sparked Smith’s anger, writing, “Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith being in ‘GI Jane’ because she’s bald. She has spoken openly about her hair loss. Will Smith ran onto the stage, slapped Rock in the face, then screamed at the top of his lungs twice, “KEEP MY WIFE’S NAME OUT OF YOUR F-NG MOUTH.”

Chris Rock joked that Jada Pinkett-Smith was in GI Jane because she was bald. She has spoken openly about suffering from hair loss. Will Smith ran onto the stage, slapped Rock in the face, then screamed at the top of his lungs twice, “KEEP MY WIFE’S NAME OUT OF YOUR F-NG MOUTH.”

— Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) March 28, 2022

The New York Times critic Wesley Morris wrote in the newspaper’s live online Oscar blog“Chris Rock presented the documentary Oscar and made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s amazing sleek haircut and it looked like Will Smith walked up to him and hit him or tried to and then berated Rock from his seat. It was like Smith hit the audio out too.”

Videos taken in other countries show Rock laughing after being hit and saying, “Will Smith just threw my shit out of me,” and Smith yelling back from his chair, “Hold my wife’s name your damn mouth.”

Later Sunday night, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said in a statement that it “does not condone any form of violence.”

The Academy does not condone violence.

Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Oscar winners, who deserved this moment of recognition from their peers and film lovers around the world.

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 28, 2022

The storyline later thickened when Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Richard Williams, father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, in King Richard. An obviously emotional, crying Smith seemed to address the slap and how he protected his family by punching Rock.

“Art mimics life,” Smith said. “I look like the crazy dad, just like Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things.”

Smith also said he would like to apologize to the academy and all of his fellow candidates. It was unclear if he was apologizing for the slap or for crying on stage.

Many of Smith’s comments when accepting the award seemed to relate to the rock slap. As an actor, “you have to be able to take abuse, you have to be able to get people to talk crazy about you, you have to smile, you have to pretend that’s okay,” he said .

rock for his part”declined to lodge a complaint with the police‘” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement variety provided.

“LAPD investigative authorities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program. In the incident, one person hit another,” the statement said. “The person concerned has declined to file a police report. If the party involved desires a police report at a later date, the LAPD is available to prepare an investigative report.”

Pinkett Smith revealed her alopecia diagnosis in 2018. Alopecia is a condition that causes drastic hair loss.

Many viewers initially thought the hit was scripted and meant to be humorous, but it slowly dawned on viewers that what they were watching was real.

“Yeah that looks like a real slap in the face,” one person wrote.

The surprise punch lit up social media on what has been a fairly regular Oscar night.

Writer Ashley Feinberg wrote, “Honestly, as easy as it seems, just going up there and doing everything I can’t believe hasn’t done more shit.”

Honestly how easy it seems to just go up there and do what I can’t believe more shit didn’t happen

— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) March 28, 2022

One tweet referred to Will Smith’s role in the 1990s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, writing, “That’s why he was sent to Bel-Air in the first place. In the comedy, Smith played a Philadelphia teenager who got into trouble with gang members in Philadelphia and was sent to live with his wealthy aunt and uncle in California.

That’s why he was sent to Bel-Air in the first place. shit like that.

— Zito (@_Zeets) March 28, 2022

Come on, Natalie Portman, stop being a coward and throw yourself down

— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) March 28, 2022

I hope everyone enjoyed the last Oscars of all time

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) March 28, 2022