Will Smith Strikes and Berates Chris Rock During Live Oscar Broadcast
Will Smith Strikes and Berates Chris Rock During Live Oscar Broadcast

Will Smith: Love will make you do crazy things

Will Smith used his acceptance speech after winning the Oscar for Best Actor to apologise to the Academy and his fellow nominees after earlier striking Chris Rock on stage.

“Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father” said Smith, chuckling. “But love will make you do crazy things.”

Notably, Smith did not apologise to Rock himself.

At the conclusion of his lengthy, tearful speech, Smith joked that he hopes the Academy “invites me back”.

After Rock joked that he couldn’t wait to see Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith in “GI Jane 2,” Smith ran onto the stage at Dolby Theatre.

Smith, 53, laughed from his seat while Pinkett Smith, 50, pulled an unimpressed expression. Smith, who is up for Best Actor at the ceremony, then took the stage and smacked Rock, 57, across the face.

Before Smith whopped the comedian’s behind, Rock had made a joke about Pinkett being in the fake action film because of her bald head.

She had previously spoken about having a hair loss condition, alopecia.

What did Will Smith tell Chris Rock at the Oscars 2022?

Smith then walked onstage and struck the comedian, yelling “keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth”.

Pinkett Smith – who announced last year that she shaved her head after struggling with alopecia – could be seen in the audience together with her husband, rolling her eyes at the joke.

Rock’s comment prompted Smith to stand up and walk on stage, causing the comedian to joke: “Uh oh...”. Smith then proceeded to hit Rock and then walk off stage back to his seat.

“Will Smith just smacked the s*** out of me,” said Rock, looking visibly shocked at the moment.

Smith is then heard yelling: “Keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth,” to which Rock replied: “Wow... dude. It was a GI Jane joke.”

According to reporters who are in the audience, they could hear Rock getting hit. Smith said twice during the incident, according to Elam, "Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth!" Rock responded: "Oh, wow."

For viewers at home, censors muted the verbal part of the exchange between Rock and Smith. The theater went silent and Rock said, "That was the greatest night in the history of television."

Rock and Pinkett-Smith at the Oscars

This is not the first time Rock has brought up Pinkett-Smith at the Oscars. In 2016, the last time Rock hosted the ceremony, he said: “Jada Pinkett Smith boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties – I wasn’t invited!”

In 2018, Pinkett Smith, who suffers from autoimmune disorder alopecia (which attacks hair follicles resulting in bald spots and hair loss), opened up about her "issues with hair loss" during an episode of her show Red Table Talk, explaining, "It was terrifying when it first started. I was in the shower one day and had just handfuls of hair in my hands and I was just like, 'Oh my god, am I going bald?' " However, she eventually found a treatment that halted some of the hair loss. Pinkett Smith, who showed off her short hairstyle, also said she was grateful for the advice she has received.

Adding fuel to the fire, Scott Feinberg, a Hollywood Reporter critic in attendance at the ceremony, tweeted that “during the commercial break, Will Smith is pulled aside and comforted by Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry, who motion for him to brush it off. Will appears to wipe tears from his eyes as he sits back down with Jada, with Denzel comforting Jada and Will’s rep by his side.”

“I did not know that this year would be the most exciting Oscar ever,” Sean “Diddy” Combs said after. “Will and Chris we’re gonna solve that like family at the goal party right now we’re moving on with love.”

After the seemingly unstaged viral moment, during the commercial break, Smith was comforted by Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry. The men motioned for him to turn the other cheeks and Smith then looked like he wiped tears away from his face.

Smith then took his seat next to his wife with Washington comforting the couple. He later revealed in his Best Actor award speech that the actor gave him sound advice.

“Denzel (Washington) said to me at the highest moment, be careful — that’s when the devil comes for you. It’s like, I want to be a vessel for love.”

Resolve the feud between Will Smith and Chris Rock ?

P Diddy offered to help resolve the feud between Will Smith and Chris Rock after the King Richard actor hit Rock at the Academy Awards. When the livestream resumed, P Diddy – real name Sean Combs – came on-stage and offered to mediate between Smith and Rock.

“Will and Chris, we’re going to solve this – but right now we’re moving on with love,” the rapper said.

Still, Twitter was shocked with the viral moment with many fans immediately expressing their thoughts after the segment.