Netizens broke loose on what they saw in a video that has never been seen on the stage of Oscars before. On the occasion of 94th Academy Awards, Will Smith who was all set to receive the award for best male actor, slapped comedian host Chris Rock for cracking some disrespectful joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. It stunned the in-person audience as well as those who were watching the show live on television and some people thought the incident to be scripted. The comedian recovered the incident with his trademark smile joking again that the night to be “the greatest night in the history of television” as he was slapped by the one and only Will Smith.

The reason for Will Smith’s smacking Rock was a joke he cracked on the former’s wife Jada Smith. Jada had previously come up on social media in 2018 with the disease she suffers from named Alopecia, a disease of pattern baldness. She also shared the challenges she faces to live with this condition saying she decided to cut her hair after handfuls of it came out in shower. She added “It was one of those times in my life where I was literally shaking in fear. That’s why I cut my hair, and why I continue to cut it,” she had said. Chris Rock cracked a joke on her saying “Jada, I love you. ‘G.I. Jane 2,` can’t wait to see it, all right?”, making fun out of her unfortunate condition. This enraged Will Smith and made him go up to the stage and smack Rock on his face. He was clearly audible even without a mic, shouting “Keep my wife’s name out of your (expletive) mouth.”

Later Smith won his first Oscar for his unmatchable performance in King Richard and in his acceptance speech, he apologised to the academy for his behaviour justifying it with the importance of his family to him. He said, “I wanna apologize to the Academy… to all my fellow nominees. … Art imitates life, I look like the crazy father! … Love will make you do crazy things” referring to his award winning character.

A letter, signed by Academy president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson says that the 94th Oscars which was meant to be celebrated was overshadowed by the unacceptable behaviour of a nominee and they are very upset and outraged with this. It further read, “To be clear, we condemn Mr. Smith’s actions that transpired Sunday night. As outlined in our bylaws, the Academy’s Board of Governors will now make a determination on appropriate action for Mr. Smith. As governed by California law regarding members of nonprofit organisations like the Academy, and set forth in our Standards of Conduct, this must follow an official process that will take a few weeks.”