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American actor Will Smith shocked the world when he confronted comedian Chris Rock live on stage at the 2022 Oscars and slapped him.
Smith, who was nominated for the Academy Award for best actor, appeared to be offended and upset after Rock made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
How it happened
Rock was on stage to present the Oscar award for best documentary feature.
Whilst presenting, he made a joke about Jada being in the 1997 film 'G.I. Jane' because of her bald head, and said he was looking forward to a sequel, "G.I. Jane 2".
Jada suffers from an autoimmune disorder called alopecia, which causes hair loss and balding.
After Rock made the joke, Smith went up on stage and slapped Rock. The sound of the slap was picked up by the microphone.
Unclear if staged or not (probably not)
It is unclear if the incident was staged or not. After the slap, Rock said: "Will Smith smacked the sh*t out of me."
Although it appeared to be a joke at first, Smith returned to his seat after the slap and subsequently yelled at Rock, twice: "Keep my wife’s name out of your f*cking mouth!"
In the live telecast, the audio was also immediately cut off after the slap occurred.
However, the uncensored version still aired in other parts of the world.
Media reporters in attendance at the Oscars also tweeted that Smith's publicist went to talk to him during a commercial break following the incident.
Some Twitter users also said that actor Denzel Washington appeared to be speaking to Smith after the incident, during a commercial break.
Smith won best actor moments later
About 20 minutes after the incident, Smith won the Oscar for 'Best Actor in a Leading Role' for his performance in King Richard.
In his acceptance speech, Smith, while crying, apologised to the academy and the other nominees in his category.
He also said: "Love will make you do crazy things."
However, he seemingly did not apologise to Chris Rock publicly.
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Top image via DiscussingFilm/Twitter.