Will Smith added a new achievement to his list as he won his first Oscar. He bagged the prestigious award for his performance in King Richard. However, even before his name was announced as the winner of the Best Actor award, he made it to the trending list online. Smith slapped comedian and Oscar 2022 host, Chris Rock, on stage and everyone was talking about it.
It all started when Rock came up on stage to announce the winner in the Best Documentary Feature category. He waved at Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith and joked about her being cast in G.I. Jane — a direct jibe at her shaved head, a step she took as she suffered from alopecia. The actor went furious and slapped him right there during a live event. He said, “Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth!”
Soon after, he was on the stage again. This time accepting an award, he said, “I want to apologize to the Academy. I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying for winning an award. It’s not about winning an award for me. It’s about being able to shine a light on all of the people.”
“Tim and Trevor and Zack and Saniyya and Demi and Aunjanue and the entire cast and crew of King Richard, Venus and Serena, the entire Williams family. Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams. Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family. In this time in my life, at this moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world. Making this film, I got to protect Aunjanue Ellis, who is one of the strongest, most delicate people I’ve ever met. I got to protect Saniyya and Demi, the two actresses that played Venus and Serena,” he said, as he began to get emotional.
“I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people. I know to do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse. You got to be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you got to be able to have people disrespecting you. And you got to smile and you got to pretend like that’s okay,” he concluded.
The audience present at the event, and viewers on social media, were shocked by Smith’s reaction. While first it was assumed that it was a comedic skit, it was confirmed via an uncensored clip that Smith did actually slap Rock. Here’s how several celebs reacted to the incident.
Check Out Some Tweets Below:
After the incident, Smith’s publicist Meredith O. Sullivan, Oscar producer Will Packer and actors Denzel Washington, Bradley Cooper and Tyler Perry came by to talk to Smith during the commercial breaks to comfort him as well. Will Smith told the audience what they told him during his speech as well.
(Featured Image Credits: Instagram)
