U.S. News
Will Smith hits Chris Rock on Oscars stage after joke about his wife [Video]
- Will Smith hit Chris Rock on the Oscars stage when the comedian joked about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, appearing in “G.I. Jane 2.”
- The comedian was referencing Demi Moore’s bald-headed character in the 1997 film, “G.I. Jane.”
- Pinkett-Smith had previously talked about her struggle with alopecia areata, a disease that causes hair loss.
The audience at the Oscars ceremony were shocked when Will Smith came up on stage to hit Chris Rock after the comedian joked about the actor’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Rock was presenting an award during the Sunday event in Los Angeles when he said, “Jada, I love ya. ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it.” He was referencing Demi Moore’s bald-headed character in the 1997 film, “G.I. Jane.”
Pinkett Smith had previously revealed in 2018 that she had alopecia areata, a disease that causes hair loss. She was forced to shave off all her hair.
The U.S. broadcast had the audio feed cut off, but clips of uncensored foreign broadcasts were quickly shared on Twitter.
In the clip, Rock can be heard saying “Wow, Will Smith just smacked the s– out of me” as Smith walked away.
When Smith returned to his seat, he then yelled at Rock twice: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f–king mouth!”
Rock added, “That was uh…greatest night in the history of television.” He then made no further mention of the incident on-air.
When rapper Diddy later took to the stage, he said, “Will and Chris, we’re going to solve that like family… But right now, we’re moving on with love.” Smith was then seen applauding.
Smith came up on stage again mere minutes after the altercation to receive his award for the “Best Actor” category.
Smith, who played the title role in “King Richard,” said, “Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family,” referring to the father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams.
The actor then teared up and said, “I know to do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse. You gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you gotta be able to have people disrespecting you, and you gotta smile and pretend like that’s OK.”
He then apologized: “I want to apologize to the Academy. I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees.” He then added that he wanted to be a “vessel for love.”
Smith observed, “Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things.”
Before leaving the stage with his award, he said, “I hope the Academy invites me back.”
Source: The Hill
Cheryl Host
March 28, 2022 at 7:02 pm
Will Smith was wrong to do that! He and Jada live in the public eye and Chris Rock is, after all, a comedian. Smith obviously humiliated Rock in front of millions of people watching but I think he did irreparable damage to his own career too. Violence is never the answer. He’s a poor role model to kids now also! I think the Academy should consider his actions and terminate his membership. It’s a shame that’s the sound bite everyone is talking about when there were some beautiful and historic moments during the show. Will Smith ruined their successes.
Scott A.
March 28, 2022 at 7:13 pm
I hope Will and Chris can work this out.
Will should know the damage he did to his Christian whiteness with this action. I DO acknowledge his human side, but it has damaged it none the less….
ElliasRedding
March 28, 2022 at 10:05 pm
How fitting that the glamorous woke sheep of Hollywood show the nation the perfect example of toxic male masculinity, something that progressive leftys always harp about. You could see that smug, self-satisfied look on Smith’s face as he returned to his seat. Thanks for supplying another reason why most clear thinking people don’t bother with the Oscars anymore. Seeing all those self-absorbed show biz folk in one place is too much to take.
Steve Clinton
March 28, 2022 at 11:30 pm
Hopefully, with that display of violent behavior, we’ve seen the last of Will Smith.
Anna
March 29, 2022 at 5:34 am
I think the gracious thing that Jada should have done was to laugh along with Will and the audience and to realize that Chris is in fact a comedian. Many actors get roasted and take it with a grain of salt. Bald can be beautiful for whatever reason and Jada should have taken the high road. I think people would have made less of a deal about it. A real man would have kissed his wife and showed how much he loved her bald or otherwise not storm to the stage like an immature baby. Wonder how Will would feel to be slapped on national TV. Not cool!!!!
Tom Pyktel
March 29, 2022 at 7:50 am
No one cares about black on black crime, so why does it bother everyone.
Bill
March 29, 2022 at 9:29 am
I’m probably not getting all the nuance of this story, all of the back drop, but from my perspective I understand Will Smith’s response and can’t, for the life of me, understand why Chris Rock would make what is seemingly an irrelevant remark about what he should certainly know is a sensitive issue. Perhaps he meant it in a friendly way. Bear in mind that Will Smith was not defending himself, but his wife. I just can’t understand why Chris Rock would make the comment. As such, it is is Rock that needs to be viewed askance. This was not an event where people get roasted. Rock shot himself in the foot.