By The Margin: What just happened?!? Will Smith slaps Chris Rock over Oscars joke about his wife
LOS ANGELES — Sunday’s 94th Academy Awards took a stunning turn when Will Smith took offense to a joke made by Chris Rock about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and slapped Rock onstage, then yelled expletives from his seat.
After Rock joked that he was looking forward to Pinkett Smith’s sequel to “G.I. Jane” — she sported a shaved head — Smith stood up from his seat near the stage, strode up to Rock and slapped him. After sitting back down, Smith shouted at Rock to “Take my wife’s name out of your (expletive) mouth.”
Smith apparently took offense to rock’s joke about his wife, who in the past has openly spoke of having a medical condition that causes hair loss.
While the incident was muted on TV in the U.S., the audio aired in other countries, such as Australia and Japan, where it was quite clear what Smith said.
The audience at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre and viewers at home were stunned.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
