Will Smith attacked Chris Rock on the Oscars stage Sunday night after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair.
The “King Richard” star stormed onto the stage after Rock suggested that Pinkett Smith, who has alopecia, should star in a “G.I. Jane” sequel due to her bald head.
“Will Smith just smacked the s— out of me,” Rock said, in a slight state of disbelief.
“Keep my wife’s name out your f—ing mouth,” Smith yelled, to which Rock tried to defend himself, saying: “Wow, dude, it was a f—ing ‘G.I. Jane’ joke…”
Smith then repeated himself, yelling again: “Keep my wife’s name out your f—ing mouth.”
“I’m going to, OK?” Rock replied. “That was the greatest night in the history of television.”
The awkward moment occurred as Smith was the front runner for Best Lead Actor during the night’s show, leaving the audience inside the Dolby Theatre stunned. Smith went on to win the award, and addressed the incident in his speech, apologizing to the Academy but not directly apologizing to Rock.
According to the LAPD, Rock later declined to file a police report over the confrontation and the Academy issued a statement saying it “does not condone violence in any form.”
Rock has a bit of a history of making jokes at Pinkett Smith’s expense during the Oscars. Both she and Smith boycotted the 2016 awards after no actors of color were nominated for the second year in a row, leaving them open to criticism from the comedian.
“Jada [Pinkett Smith] boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna‘s panties. I wasn’t invited,” Rock said six years ago.
“It’s not fair that Will was this good and didn’t get nominated. It’s also not fair that Will was paid $20 million for ‘Wild Wild West!’” he joked.
