The 2022 Oscars ceremony was in full flow on Sunday evening – handing out awards to Dune, CODA, Encanto and more – when an unexpected confrontation between eventual Best Actor winner Will Smith and comedian Chris Rock broke out on stage.
In the final hour of the ceremony, Rock went on stage to present the award for Best Documentary Feature, and took the opportunity to deliver a few jokes prior to announcing the nominees. While most of the jokes brought laughs in the room, one involving Jada Pinkett Smith saw things turn sour. In reference to the actor’s shaven head, Rock said: “Jada, I love you. ‘G.I. Jane 2’? Can’t wait to see it.” Pinkett Smith has recently spoken about her experiences dealing with alopecia, and rolled her eyes at the gag. Seeing his wife’s discomfort, Smith took to the stage, walked directly up to Rock, and struck him on the face. “Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me,” Rock remarked as Smith returned to his seat. Once he was sat down again, Smith repeatedly shouted at Rock: “Leave my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth.”
The violent act left the theatre in stunned silence, with Rock gathering himself just enough to carry on with announcing the Best Documentary Feature nominees – the award went to Questlove’s Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised), though the director’s acceptance speech was sadly cut off when the broadcast dropped out.
The incident was indirectly addressed later on when Smith won Best Actor for his role as Venus and Serena Williams’ father in biopic King Richard – the actor delivering an emotional acceptance speech, visibly shaking and crying on stage: “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,” Smith said, his hands shaking, as he continued to talk around his on-stage conflict with Rock. “Making this film, I got to protect Aunjanue Ellis, who is one of the most strongest, most delicate people I’ve ever met. I got to protect Saniyya and Demi, the two actresses who played Venus and Serena. I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people. And to be a river to my people. And I know to do what we do, we gotta be able to take abuse, you gotta be able to take people talking crazy about you. You gotta smile and pretend like that’s ok. Denzel said to me a few minutes ago: ‘At your highest moment, be careful – that’s when the devil comes for you.’ It’s like… I wanna be a vessel for love.”
He continued: “I wanna say thank you to Venus and Serena and the entire Williams family for entrusting me with your story. That’s what I want to do. I want to be an ambassador of that kind of love and care and concern. I wanna apologise to the Academy, to all my fellow nominees. 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 the light on all of the people… Art imitates life, I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things.”
He finished his speech by saying: “I hope the Academy invites me back. Thank you.”
The LAPD has since released an official statement regarding the incident, noting that Rock has currently declined to file a police report. “LAPD investigative entities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program,” the statement reads. “The incident involved one individual slapping another. The individual involved has declined to file a police report. If the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report.”