The entertainment scene witnessed a real-life action-packed sequence at the 94th Academy Awards aka Oscars after Will Smith SLAPPED comedian, Chris Rock.
Why did Will Smith Slap Chris Rock?
The slap occurred after comedian, Chris Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, and fellow actress, Jada Pinkett-Smith’s hair loss. Jada is currently bald as a result of her struggles with the autoimmune disease, alopecia.
The actress has been very open about her struggles with alopecia, and the side effects of the disease therein, including hair loss.
“Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see you,,” Chris Rock said in a jibe aimed at Jada’s baldness, whilst on stage to present an award. The joke is a reference to the 1998 film character GI Jane, played by Demi Moore who had to sport a shaggy buzzcut for the role.
Reacting, Will Smith walked up to the stage and landed a heavy slap across the comedian’s face, much to the shock of the watching crowd, and a stunned Chris Rock.
Upon reaching his seat, he would later yell across the room at Chris Rock, assertively asking that he “keeps” Jada’s name out of his mouth.
“Keep my wife’s name out of your f*cking mouth.” the King Richard actor was heard saying. Watch the exchange below;
Will Smith’s Apology
He would later apologize for his actions after winning his first-ever Oscar award on the night.
“I want to apologise to the Academy. I want to apologise to my all my fellow nominees,” the award-winning actor said as he broke down in tears
“This is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying for winning an award. It’s not about winning an award for me. It’s about being able to shine a light on all of the people,” he said. “I hope the Academy invites me back.”
Prior to his acceptance speech, Will had been approached by other African-American Hollywood legends including, Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry.
During his acceptance speech, he opened up on what Washington told him saying that he had advised him to be very careful about his actions at this point in his life, as the devil is lurking to cut him down.
“I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people,” Smith said. “I know, to do what we do, we’ve gotta be able to take abuse. You’ve gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you’ve gotta be able to have people disrespecting you. You’ve gotta smile and pretend that that’s okay.
“Denzel [Washington] said to me a few moments ago, he said, ‘At your highest moment, be careful, that’s when the devil comes for you.'”
Jada’s Struggles With Alopecia
Jada Pinkett-Smith has been very open about her struggles with Alopecia, a medical condition that causes one’s hair to fall out in clumps.
The actress publicly opened up on her struggles with alopecia last year in a post shared via Instagram, wherein she made it known that she was going to be shaving off her hair.
“Now at this point, I can only laugh… y’all know I’ve been struggling with alopecia. Just all of a sudden, one day…it just showed up like that. Now, this is going to be a little bit more difficult for me to hide. So, I thought I’d just share it so y’all not asking any questions…Mama’s gonna have to take it down to the scalp so nobody thinks she got brain surgery or something. Me and this alopecia are going to be friends … period!” she wrote
Earlier on in the show, co-host, Regina Hall had poked fun at Will and Jada’s marriage, a joke the pair took in good faith.
The Entanglement: Will & Jada’s Marriage
In 2020, the word entanglement became quite popular on the internet after Jada Pinkett-Smith described her short-lived romance with singer, August Alsina as an ‘entanglement’ whilst still legally married to Will Smith.
Alsina had stated that the relationship between himself and Jada was not a secret. According to him, he got the blessings of the superstar actor.
“I actually sat down with Will and had a conversation … He gave me his blessing,” he said. “And I totally gave myself to that relationship for years of my life, and I truly and really, really, deeply loved and have a ton of love for her (Jada).
Following August’s initial revelation, Jada’s camp had first reported his allegations as false.
However, a few days later, Jada and Will Smith would have an emotional talk on her popular talk show, Red Table Talk.
It was during the conversation that Jada would admit to her entanglement with August Alsina.
“I got into a different kind of entanglement with August,” Jada said.
Before delving into what transpired between herself and August, the actress made sure to note that she and Will were on an indefinite break form their marriage due to irreconcilable differences at the time.
“We decided that we were going to separate for a period of time, and you go figure out how to make yourself happy, and I’ll figure out how to make myself happy,” Will said.
“At that particular time it was indefinite,” Jada added.
The pair would also debunk August’s statements that he got permission from Will before embarking on the relationship with Jada.
The Hollywood superstar is a father of three. He has been married twice, first tying the knot with ex-wife, Sheree Zampino in 1992, a union that produced his first son, Trey.
Following their divorce in 1995, he would go on to marry actress, Jada Pinkett Smith in 1997.
Will and Jada have two children: Jaden, aged 23, and Willow, 21.
