On Monday Will Smith, an American actor, turned the Oscars upside down when he slapped Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith.
The Fresh Prince together with Jada and Chris Rock started trending on South African social media apps in the early hours of Monday after a clip of the actor taking a swing at the comedian started circulating.
Why did Will Smith Slap Chris Rock?
In the clip, Chris Rock can be heard saying, “Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see you.” The wife of the American actor didn’t look pleased with Rock’s joke. According to reports, she took offense at the joke because she recently opened up about a condition that is making her lose hair, hence her hairstyle in the evening.
A lot of people were apparently laughing at the joke, including Smith. He, however, got up swiftly and marched to the stage, giving the comedian one of the most passionate slaps ever. Rock seemed surprised at the actor’s reaction and said, “Wow! Will Smith just slapped the **** outta me!”
“The Pursuit of Happyness” star walked back to his seat and proceeded to yell at the comedian to keep his wife’s name out of his mouth.
Smith won the Best Actor award after the ordeal for his recent movie “King Richard” and made an emotional speech about how love will make you do crazy things.
Here are a few reactions from South African tweeps:
I lost at the respect I had for Will Smith. A second before he was laughing at the joke. Men and toxic masculinity. I salute Chris Rock for being so so civil about it. He reminds me of myself. I hate violence
— Javu Baloyi (@javubaloyi) March 28, 2022
Some tweeps thought that Will Smith could have handled the situation better.
Will Smith was laughing at the joke until Jada whispered ‘August would never let this happen’
pic.twitter.com/Wglf790D7J
— The Fundraiser
(@KingDon_za) March 28, 2022
Others joked, bringing August Alsina’s name into it.
Will Smith created the best version of this meme pic.twitter.com/a0XqKecUIg
— Zethu
(@MsNtfulini) March 28, 2022
Another tweep joked.
Nah will smith is going through it .
— Miss_xo (@Miss_xo6) March 28, 2022
While most people giggled about it, others seemed to think that the actor is going through tough personal issues and that it might be quite serious.
Was the whole thing staged?
Others seem to think that the whole thing was staged. According to E! News, the Oscars confirmed that the slap was not staged.
“Someone who works for the Oscars told me that Chris Rock was not interrupted by Will Smith at rehearsals yesterday,” Variety’s executive editor, Ramin Setoodeh, wrote in a tweet.
“It was not supposed to happen. It was real.”
Oscar producer Will Packer came by Will Smith’s table and said something to him. His publicist has been talking to him at every commercial break. #Oscars
— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) March 28, 2022
By Zintle Nkohla
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