Despite winning his first Academy Award on Sunday, Will Smith’s triumph was overshadowed by an incident in which the actor slapped comedian Chris Rock on live television after latter made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Rock took to the stage to present the award for Best Documentary when he made a joke about Pinkett Smith’s appearance.
“Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see you,” he quipped in an apparent reference to the actor’s shaved head.
Pinkett Smith – who announced last year that she shaved her head after struggling with alopecia – could be seen in the audience together with her husband, rolling her eyes at the joke.
Rock’s comment prompted Smith to stand up and walk on stage, causing the comedian to joke: “Uh oh…”. Smith then proceeded to hit Rock and then walk off stage back to his seat.
“Will Smith just smacked the s*** out of me,” said Rock, looking visibly shocked at the moment.
Smith is then heard yelling: “Keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth,” to which Rock replied: “Wow… dude. It was a GI Jane joke.”
“Keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth,” Smith yells again. “I’m going to…” replied Rock, who appeared flustered at the interaction.
“That was the greatest night in the history of television,” said Rock, before going on to present the award for Best Documentary.
Many viewers reported that the sound from the televised broadcast cut out during Smith’s outburst.
The hashtag, #arrestwillsmith, then gathered steam across social media website, Twitter.
Then came the announcement of her best actor award, which went to Smith for his portrayal of Richard Williams, the determined father who raised tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams, in “King Richard.”
Smith, 53, one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars, had been nominated twice before, for 2001’s “Ali” and 2006 movie “The Pursuit of Happyness.”
This time, he depicted Richard Williams and his unconventional strategy for elevating his daughters from a municipal park in a hardscrabble Los Angeles neighborhood to Centre Court at Wimbledon.
During his acceptance speech, a teary-eyed Smith apologised to the Academy Award show organisers for slapping Rock during the live airing of the ceremony.
“Love makes you do crazy things… I hope The Academy invites me back,” he said.
“I want to apologize to the Academy and I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees — this is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying about winning an award… it’s about being able to shine light,” declared the actor.
Smith shot to fame in the 1990s in the television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and took on mostly comedy and action roles early in his movie career before expanding into drama.
He earned his first Oscar nomination for playing Muhammad Ali and his second for portraying another real person, Chris Gardner, a onetime homeless father who went on to found his own brokerage firm.
Isha Price, one of Venus and Serena’s three older half-sisters, was an early collaborator on the “King Richard” script, providing details and recollections that made the movie the story of the family.
Venus and Serena Williams joined the project as executive producers only after they watched the completed film. Richard Williams has been in ill health for years and did not take part.
IMAGE
Will Smith during his acceptance speech at the Academy Awards (contributed photo)
