Will Smith Wins Best Actor Oscar, Apologizes After Chris Rock Incident

Smith won the Oscar for his portrayal of Richard Williams, the father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams.

As the sports world recovered from a weekend that included plenty of college basketball, NBA action and more, the rest of the world had their eyes glued to the television on Sunday night for the Oscars.

For much of the night, it was business as usual at the Hollywood event, until actor Will Smith walked on stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock for making a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Rock’s joke made reference to Pinkett Smith’s hair-loss condition, as he said “Jada, can’t wait for G.I. Jane 2.”

Smith walked up to the stage  and slapped Rock before walking back to his seat and yelling, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f------ mouth.”

The remainder of the awards show was quite tense and became a bit more awkward a short time later when Smith won the award for best actor for his role in King Richard. 

During his acceptance speech, Smith apologized for his earlier actions.

“I want to apologize to the Academy and I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees,” Smith said. “This is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying about winning an award. It’s not about winning an award for me, it’s about being able to shine light on all of the people…the entire cast and crew. … Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father just like they said about Richard Williams, but love will make you do crazy things.”

Smith received plenty of criticism for his slap of Rock, though some did come to his defense after the incident. One thing’s for certain, this moment will be talked about for years to come.