“That was the greatest night in television,” Chris Rock dubbed the 94th Academy Awards after Will Smith smacked him on stage during the live taping.
The legendary actors had an altercation at the show after Rock made a G.I. Jane joke in reference to Jada Pinkett-Smith’s shaved head. “Jada, I love ya. G.I. Jane 2, I can’t wait to see it,” the comedian said.
Moments later Smith is seen walking on the stage approaching Rock before slapping him square in the face.
The King Richard actor calmly walked back to his seat re-joining his wife and warned Chris, “keep my wife’s name out your f****ng mouth!”
UNCENSORED WILL SMITH FOOTAGE AS SHOWN ON AUSTRALIAN TV pic.twitter.com/NcRfdjWxqe
— David Mack (@davidmackau) March 28, 2022
Twitter immediately reacted to the altercation and wondered if it was staged. But after an uncensored video surfaced online from Australia, it was pretty clear that Will was as serious as a heart attack.
Diddy was the following presenter and addressed the situation. “Will and Chris, we’re going to solve this like family. Right now we’re moving on with love. Everybody make some noise.”
The camera panned to the Smiths who seemed to be in a better mood after being consoled by Denzel Washington, Tyler Perry, and other industry peers.
Sean Combs addresses that wild Will Smith and Chris Rock moment at the #Oscars: "Will and Chris, we're gonna solve that like family at the Gold Party." pic.twitter.com/5r6WHHBdeE
— Variety (@Variety) March 28, 2022
Pinkett announced her struggles with alopecia last year, making Chris Rock’s joke very insensitive. “Now at this point, I can only laugh… y’all know I’ve been struggling with alopecia. Just all of a sudden, one day…it just showed up like that. Now, this is going to be a little bit more difficult for me to hide. So, I thought I’d just share it so y’all not asking any questions…Mama’s gonna have to take it down to the scalp so nobody thinks she got brain surgery or something. Me and this alopecia are going to be friends … period!”
Chris Rock and Will Smith are the number one trending topic on Twitter, but it’s worth noting that Will finally secured his first Oscar for his performance in the King Richard biopic.
