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: 

Some tweeps thought that Will Smith could have handled the situation better.

Others joked, bringing August Alsina’s name into it.

Another tweep joked.

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.”


By Zintle Nkohla

Follow Zintle Nkohla on Twitter

Follow IT News Africa on Twitter

Sign Up for Our Newsletters

Get notified of the best deals on our WordPress themes.

You May Also Like

Nokia Kenya Dodges a $260,000 Fine in Service Centre Contract Feud

A Kenyan court has reportedly rejected a petition filed by Kenyan dealer TechnoService which is seeking Sh150-million ($257,832.60) from cellphone manufacturer Nokia for allegedly selling some of its businesses to…
View Post

UBA & Cellulant Join Forces to Unite Africa’s Payments Ecosystem

Nigeria’s United Bank for Africa (UBA), and Cellulant, a leading Pan-African payments company, have announced a partnership that will extend payment services for merchants and consumers across 19 key African…
View Post

Paratus Expands to DRC, Connects 620KM Fibre Optic Line

Telecommunications firm Paratus Group has announced its expansion into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This coincides with the news that Paratus has won, together with DRC based Global Broadband…
View Post

MTN SA Invests $46.4-Million in New Infrastructure for KZN, South Africa

Africa’s largest telecom group MTN SA has announced a further investment of $46.4-million (R700-million) in order to modernise existing, and deploy new, network infrastructure across the KwaZulu-Natal province in South…
View Post

Here’s How Much MTN Spent During the ICASA Spectrum Auction

MTN announced on Thursday that it had secured the high-demand spectrum required for its 4G and 5G network expansion drive from the highly anticipated ICASA spectrum auction. ICASA announced that…
View Post

Top 5 Games to Look Out for in 2022

Gamers have a lot to look forward to in 2022 – what with the release of many highly anticipated titles and DLCs across all platforms. Whether you enjoy journeying through…
View Post