Will Smith lost his cool and slapped presenter Chris Rock during the 2022 Oscar Awards live telecast on Sunday night.
The A-list actor won his first ever Best Actor Oscar for his performance in “King Richard”, but his big achievement was marred when he slapped the Oscar Awards presenter earlier in the evening.
Smith shed tears before apologizing for slapping Rock. “Love will make you do crazy things,” he said.
Will Smith : Love will make you do crazy things #Oscars2022 #Oscar pic.twitter.com/2r4wvrXpt0
— Am a god (@elwickyke) March 28, 2022
Chris Rock got what he deserved ????? Black women will not be the butt of a joke to make a room filled with white people laugh. Will Smith should have given him both hands
— Tri ? da Villain (@THEEEhottie) March 28, 2022
The incident unfolded after Rock cracked a “G.I. Jane” joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith‘s alopecia, Smith defended his wife’s honor by slapping Rock’s face.
Rock was momentarily stunned, but he recovered quickly.
“Wow! Wow! Will Smith just smacked the sh*t out of me!” Rock told the stunned audience.
Will sat back down in the front row and yelled, “Keep my wife’s name out your f****ing mouth!”
Rock responded, “Wow, dude. It was a G.I. Jane joke.”
Smith repeated his warning: “Keep my wife’s name out your f****ing mouth!”
“I’m going to, OK?” Rock told the furious actor.
Below is the censored version seen on American TV and the uncensored version that was seen around the world.
MAYHEM BETWEEN CHRIS ROCK AND WILL SMITH AT THE #Oscars pic.twitter.com/265hGbsEDg
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) March 28, 2022
UNCENSORED EXTENDED VERSION of Will Smith smacking Chris Rock from Japanese TV pic.twitter.com/s9BZoRyrrm
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) March 28, 2022
For the people who think the hit was fAkE ? pic.twitter.com/OK91JO2JGa
— Anthony Romero (@Ayy_TonyRomero) March 28, 2022
Director Tyler Perry (right) shared some advice and encouraging words with Smith afterwards.
Twitter users guessed that Smith really wanted to slap Laverne Cox for being messy and bringing up his wife’s entanglement at the 2022 SAG Awards last month. But Smith played it cool and, instead, took out his frustration on Rock.
Cox made the situation worse by refusing to apologize to the Smiths the next day.
Everyone at the Oscar’s when Will Smith assaulted Chris Rock on national television #Oscars pic.twitter.com/VX7EzFyJ22
— LORRAKON (@LORRAKON) March 28, 2022
What did he mean by GI Jane??
— wizard woo (@Da1Only16) March 28, 2022
She is bald, but because she has alopecia, Demi Moore shaved her head when she was in GI Jane back in the 90s
— Shaun Sellkirk (@Gawkinstein) March 28, 2022
Will Smith said y’all will remember the year I won Best Actor at the #Oscars& you know what we will? pic.twitter.com/v7IyLpE2iw
— TV Fanatic??? (@TvKhaleesi) March 28, 2022
It's actually not funny at all? Will Smith could have killed him with that slap. What if his hand had been full of bees and Chris Rock was allergic to bees and one of the bees stung Chris and nobody had an epipen. Not so funny now is it
— ?? (@nomchompsky) March 28, 2022
Didn’t know until just this moment about @jadapsmith having Alopecia. She’s wonderful and great. So is @willsmith — which we all know. They’re both phenomenal. But you do NOT do what Will did in that setting. Go backstage and handle that shit if you must. Horrible look!
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) March 28, 2022
Will Smith is lucky his momma wasn't there tonight. She would've kicked his ass for acting like that.
— George Wallace (@MrGeorgeWallace) March 28, 2022
Will Smith committed a violent crime, took no responsibility, and then blamed it on his feelings. Perfect encapsulation of our times.
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) March 28, 2022
I’m sorry but Will Smith is an idiot. No excuse for responding like that to a joke at an awards show filled with actors and comics. To another black man in front of the entire world no less. SMH. I hope Rock’s comic brethren rip Smith to shreds for years to come.
— Fins T.O. (@4Alex65) March 28, 2022
Will Smith was wrong. Full stop. You can protect your wife against words without physically attacking a comedian. The long walk it took to get to the stage should have woken him up. Assaulting people is never ever the fix. Heartbroken that he polluted his win for eternity.
— #BBBCrew Joyce Davis (@JoyceSmileBig) March 28, 2022
white people turning on will smith en masse for defending his wife against clear misogynoir is just reaffirming that you all only like black entertainers when they’re performing for your laughter and never stepping out of your imaginary line you’ve made for them
— ?kathony diaries. (@ungodlywests) March 28, 2022
