“What just happened?”: Oscars viewers were stunned on Sunday night after an altercation between actors Will Smith and Chris Rock, the first going up on stage to slap the second.
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Chris Rock, one of the presenters at the 94th Hollywood Awards, had just made a joke about Will Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith.
He compared her close-cropped hair to Demi Moore’s shaved head in Ridley Scott’s “On Equal Arms” (1997).
Jada Pinkett-Smith, who has publicly spoken about her alopecia (hair loss) in the past, rolled her eyes. At first hilarious, Will Smith then went on stage and slapped Chris Rock, the sound of the blow resonating in the microphones in front of the stunned spectators, in the room where the ceremony was taking place as on their sofa.
ABC channel muted the sound during the ensuing scene, but the dialogue was audible on foreign televisions.
“Wow. wow. Will Smith has just taken my head off,” said Chris Rock. “It was a joke on ‘On Equal Arms'”, he justified himself to the actor.
“Leave my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth,” Will Smith yelled, returning to his wife’s side.