The Oscars Awards 2022 will be one of the most remembered awards of all time because of the awkward moment that the attendees lived after Will Smith hit the presenter Chris Rock live after making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett.
The comedian made an unfortunate comment about Jada’s bald head and the actor at first was somewhat smiling about the joke, but Jada Pinkett Smith reacted in an annoying and uncomfortable way, so moments later Will Smith went on stage and slapped Chris Rock, and then in his seat shouted a couple of times: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f*ing mouth”.
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At first, it all seemed like part of the show, but both viewers and attendees were shocked to realize that the annoyance and reaction of the actor were real. The comedian was speechless and for a moment there was an awkward silence, but then he said it was “a great night in the history of television” and continued with the presentation.
After what happened, The Academy spoke out against the violence on Twitter and mentioned that the gala attendees deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and moviegoers around the world.
“The Academy does not condone violence in any form. Tonight we are thrilled to celebrate the winners of the 94th Academy Awards, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and moviegoers around the world,” a spokesperson from the Academy wrote.
ABC News reported that the Los Angeles Police Department said it was aware of the altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock, however, so far no police report has been filed. Also, it was announced that the comedian will not press charges against the actor for hitting him.
Minutes after the incident, Smith won the Best Actor statuette for his role in King Richard’s film, in which he played the father of famous tennis players Serena and Venus Williams, and at the time of giving his speech, he offered an apology to The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but not to Chris Rock.
“I want to apologize to the Academy, to all my fellow nominees, this is a very beautiful moment and I’m not crying for winning, for me it is not to have won an award but to have shone with all the people and to have made everyone who participated in this film shine,” said the actor.
Finally, to justify his reaction Smith said that “love makes you do crazy things” and joked that hopefully, the organizers will invite him back to the awards.
Story originally published in Cultura Colectiva in Spanish