Will Smith slaps Chris Rock during Oscars; Twitter users are shocked

Smith, who won the best actor for King Richard later, shouted Rock to “keep my wife’s name out of your (expletive) mouth.” To which Rock responded by saying, “I am going to. That’s the greatest night in the history of television.”

In December last year, Jada Pinkett Smith told Billboard she has been battling alopecia, the autoimmune disorder which can cause hair loss and balding.

The Will Smith-Chris Rock exchange at the Oscars has left netizens shocked. Some users assumed it was a staged act while some users praised Smith for supporting his wife. Some fans were agitated with Smith’s reaction. One user said, “If this WASNT staged- I just stopped being a Will Smith fan.”

“Violence is never”, “Apologize”, “Chris Rock” and “Jada” started trending on Twitter and memes flooded Twitter.

See reactions:

Man….I’m going to have to remove all my Will Smith songs from my workout playlist. This outburst will be in my head. 😢

— Jane tremblay (@Janetremblay2) March 28, 2022

He was sticking up for Jada who has alopecia ( which caused hair loss ). Chris joked about her lack of hair ( GI Jane II) i am proud of will for standing up for Jada who was obviously shocked by the comment

— just a gal & her dogs tryin’ to carry on. (@marylouise996S) March 28, 2022

Will didn’t appreciate Chris’ GI Jane 2 comment. WOW! I’m surprised he didn’t get walked out by security.

— Linda G. (@lgold1456) March 28, 2022

Chris Rock messed up. Jada has a medical reason for the short hair. pic.twitter.com/sIywcHAqLE

— Hangry Sue (@suewilbur) March 28, 2022

Violence isn’t ok. Assault is never the answer. Also? This is the 2nd time that Chris has made fun of Jada on the #Oscars stage, & tonight he went after her alopecia. Punching down at someone’s auto-immune disease is wrong. Doing so on purpose is cruel. They both need a breather.

— Sophia Bush (@SophiaBush) March 28, 2022

Physical violence is never the answer. Will Smith was wrong. Some jokes are evil. Chris Rock was wrong. They both can be wrong.

— Scott Dworkin (@funder) March 28, 2022

Dear Will Smith, I am a fan of yours.
I can NEVER accept any kind of Violence, even more so, for this historical moment,violence is never lawful and justifiable. You used Violence, probably provoked, but this DOES NOT JUSTIFY your gesture.
#Oscars #Oscars2022 #Oscar2022 #Oscar pic.twitter.com/wMBt30uDPU

— AXEMII (@axemii_ap) March 28, 2022

The only thing worse than taking a bad action is justifying taking a bad action. And justifying a bad action for five minutes, invoking God’s name in the process, and apologizing to everyone except the person you need to apologize to, is even worse. #ToxicMasculinity

— MAURICE LAMARCHE (@MAURICELAMARCHE) March 28, 2022

I’m mad AF! #WillSmith should be ashamed of himself! He didn’t even have the decency to apologize to #ChrisRock He should win an #Oscar for the performance he gave giving that acceptance speech! #Cancelled in my book! pic.twitter.com/AjITOYksav

— ONEofaKIND (@i_onekind) March 28, 2022

All of us watching what just went down between Will, Chris and Jada: #Oscars pic.twitter.com/g34XV10SV7

— Saeed Jones (@theferocity) March 28, 2022

Everyone at the #Oscars just now with Will Smith: pic.twitter.com/eJ6Yubje1d

— Xiomara Ramirez (@LadyXioG) March 28, 2022

Me during this Chris Rock and Will Smith moment #Oscars pic.twitter.com/idTP8tuRvi

— Anneliese Bustillo (@anni_magus) March 28, 2022

Andrew Garfield texting the other Peter Parkers to see if Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in their universes too pic.twitter.com/HWaUWGMp28

— Clint Lamb (@ClintRLamb) March 28, 2022

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After the exchange, presenter Daniel Kaluuya hugged Smith and Denzel Washington took him to the side of the stage to brush it off.

Later during the Best Actor Oscar acceptance speech, Smith said, “I wanna apologize to the Academy… to all my fellow nominees. … Art imitates life, I look like the crazy father! … Love will make you do crazy things.”

“Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family. In this time in my life, in this moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world. Making this film, I got to protect Aunjanue Ellis, who is one of the strongest, most delicate people I’ve ever met. I got to protect Saniyya and Demi, the two actresses that played Venus and Serena,” he added and he broke down into tears.

“I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people. I know to do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse. You got to be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you got to be able to have people disrespecting you. And you got to smile and you got to pretend like that’s okay,” he said.