Will Smith tarnished what would have been a perfect night after winning the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in the film “King Richard: a winning family.” The artist, minutes before devoting himself to the awards gala, starred in a shameful moment when he gave a hard slap in the face to the humorist acid. Chris Rock, who dared to mock his wife's alopecia.
The show at the Oscars went very smoothly when Chris Rock, who was due to present the award for Best Documentary, told a joke about Will Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith; comparing her hairless head (due to alopecia) with that of the protagonist of the film G.I. Jane; a shaved-haired soldier.
The former protagonist of the 'Prince of Rap' got up from his chair and unceremoniously hit Rock hard. Everyone attending the ceremony thought it was a planned scene, but when they heard Will shout twice “keep my wife's name out of your damn mouth”, tension took hold of the Theater and the coup became a worldwide trend.
On social networks, opinions were divided. Some supported Will Smith for defending his wife from teasing her alopecia, while others called it exaggerated and that he shouldn't have done that in front of millions of viewers.
Chris Rock, after this embarrassing episode, has refused to press charges against Smith for the slap. The Los Angeles Police Department said: “The person involved has refused to file a police report. If the party involved wants a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report.”
CRITICISM AND MOCKERY
It was the year 2016, Chris Rock was chosen as the official presenter of the Oscars, a ceremony that took place amid protests by black actors, who decided to boycott the award that was described by many as the whitest edition.
Actors such as Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith led the protests and boycotts of the event and did not attend as a form of protest because no black performer was nominated for the major awards.
This situation did not go unnoticed at the gala, where Chris Rock decided to include some references in his monologue, which for many was insulting, especially because he mocked the protest of the actors of color, who had been fighting for years for recognition by the Academy.
“What happened this year? People went crazy. Spike [Lee] went crazy. Jada went crazy. Will went crazy. Everyone went crazy! Jada said she wasn't coming. I thought, 'Isn't he on a television series? ' Is Jada going to boycott the Oscars? Jada boycotting the Oscars is like I boycott Rihanna's panties. I wasn't invited,” said the comedian and actor. “Your man, Will, was not nominated for Truth Hurts. I understand. You're going crazy. It's not fair that Will was so good and didn't get a nomination. It's also not fair that Will was paid $20 million to make Wild Wild West!” , he continued.
The protagonist of 'the way to happiness' didn't take any importance to what Rock said, but his wife Jada did want to respond.
“These are the tricks of the trade, my dear. We're still moving. There are many things we have to put up with, many things in our world right now. We have to move on,” he concluded.
Later, Will and Jada Smith have avoided commenting on Chris' acid mockery, but in Hollywood it is known that both avoid meeting and do not even greet each other at official ceremonies where they are invited.
In 2018, Chris posted a controversial comment about the actor on social media mocking his previous marriage.
Will had posted a photo wishing his ex-wife Sheree Zampino a very happy birthday, and Chris posted a comment that went viral.
'Happy birthday, @shereezampino. #BestBabyMamaEver! :-) I love you, Ree-Ree', wrote Will Smith along with a photo of Sheree and his son Trey.
Chris Rock later commented: “Wow. You have a very understanding wife.”
Sheree then responded to that comment: 'Don't hate. '
IT WAS NOT ACTED
While many speculated that the Will Smith and Chris Rock scandal would be an Academy strategy to attract more audience, Vanity Fair's executive editor Ramin Setoodeh, who was tweeting live since the ceremony, said someone who works for the Oscars told him that Smith didn't interrupt Rock at Saturday's rehearsals. “It wasn't supposed to happen. It was real,” he wrote.
After the slap, Smith was seen being comforted by Denzel Washington and actor and producer Tyler Perry. Bradley Cooper also took Smith aside and was seen in a close conversation with him.
Setoodeh, looking from inside the cinema, said Smith's publicist approached him and talked to him during a commercial break.
Earlier this month, Smith and Jada were the butt of a joke after he won the Best Actor Award for his role in King Richard at the 75th annual British Academy Film Awards.
BAFTA host Rebel Wilson, 41, even joked on stage: “I thought her best performance over the past year was to be okay with all of her wife's boyfriends!”
Speaking later, Smith insisted that “there has never been infidelity”, even though Jada admitted in 2020 that she had an “entanglement” with the 29-year-old singer August Alsina.
'There has never been infidelity in our marriage. Jada and I talked about everything, and we've never been surprised by anything,” Smith said.
ACADEMY STATEMENT
The Hollywood Academy issued a statement after the scandalous act of violence starring Will Smith and Chris Rock
“The Academy does not condone any kind of violence. Tonight we are delighted to celebrate the winners of our 94th Academy Awards, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and film lovers around the world,” says the short statement in which it does not clarify much more about the episode that toured the planet live.
So far it was not immediately clear whether the Academy would penalize Smith in any way for his outburst.
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