The Entire Will Smith Oscars Slap Controversy Explained

minutes before winning his Oscar Will Smith went down an Oscar history for a very different reason here's the story behind the slap heard around the world literally Will Smith first became known for his breakout role as a fictionalized version of himself in the 1990s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air he also earned rave reviews for his film debut in 1993's Six Degrees of Separation and quickly ascended to Bonafide movie star status with massive hits like 1996's Independence Day and 1997's Men In Black Smith's charismatic performances in such films require a certain kind of talent but it's a talent that almost always goes unrecognized by the academy after 1999's Wild Wild West was a critical and box office disappointment Smith transitioned to more serious acting with his titular role in Michael Mann's 2001 biopic Ali playing the legendary boxer earned Smith his first Oscar nomination but he lost to Denzel Washington for training day over the next two decades the actor rapper producer's career would volley back and forth between what he hoped would be critical favorites and more commercial fare don't ever do that again he received his second Oscar nomination for his lead performance as a struggling single father in The Pursuit of Happiness this time Forrest Whitaker won for the last king of Scotland in 2015 Smith starred in concussion as the doctor who discovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy and football players he didn't make the 2016 best actor cut but he and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith told Good Morning America their boycott of the event had only to do with the lack of diversity in that Year's nominees still Smith was widely perceived as wanting to win one of those little gold men one day Will Smith's best chance for an Oscar came with 2021's King Richard a film he co-produced about the father of the tennis playing Williams sisters King Richard was almost universally liked by critics and audiences in a relatively weak year for movies only about 18 months removed from the start of the covid-19 pandemic the film and its star collected just about every Accolade that they could leading up to the Oscars awards are usually something of a horse race with a campaign season not unlike that of an election actors in particular have to walk a fine line between being available to press and Academy members and being Overexposed Smith handled the lead-up to the Academy Awards perfectly he was Charming in interviews he used his acceptance speeches to heat Praise on his collaborators co-stars and the Williams family he won every major precursor to the Oscars including the bafta SAG Golden Globe and multiple critics prizes King Richard went on to be nominated for six Academy Awards including best actor and by March Smith was the front-runner for the win winning an Oscar is never a short thing even for those at the top of the betting odds but Smith was about as dominant as any best actor candidate had ever been that night at the Dolby Theater his victory was practically a foregone conclusion with only about an hour to go before his dream of winning an Oscar seemed all but guaranteed to come true Will Smith did something that he'll surely regret for the rest of his life Chris Rock took the stage to present the award for best documentary feature as his standard procedure for Oscar presenters Rock had some pre-written material to deliver before listing the nominees Rock started by teasing husband and wife Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz who were both nominated for lead actor and actress respectively then the stand-up comedian went off script and turned his attention to Will and Jada Pinkett Smith who sat in the front row near the center the offending punchline was Jada I love ya GI Jane 2 can't wait to see it Smith appeared to laugh at first as if being a good sport about it and Jada rolled her eyes a moment later Smith stood walked on stage toward Rock and slapped him across the face with his open right hand Smith returned to a seat where he looked decidedly more upset than he'd been only a few seconds before and began shouting at rock rock took a beat to compose himself before saying that was a great this night in the history of television because award shows frequently feature celebrity skits and stunts people in the room as well as people watching on TV couldn't tell whether the slap was a clumsily executed attempt at comedy or a real altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock however those seated nearby Will and Jada seemed to realize what was happening in real time Oscar Watchers at home got their first clue that the slap was real when the audio cut out during the American broadcast ABC airs live programs in the United States on a 22nd delay had the tense exchange been a bit the network wouldn't have taken this step in the uncensored version Rock's shock is apparent in the way he reacts to the assault despite the deeply uncomfortable tension in the Dolby Theater Rock still had to award the Oscar for best documentary to Questlove for his film summer of soul in front of a still confused crowd Quest love later told Jimmy Fallon that he was meditating during the announcement of his category and wasn't aware of what had occurred between his friends Smith and rock when I opened my eyes I didn't realize like why is everyone so quiet like I literally was not present for that whole entire moment while Will Smith's Behavior was inexcusable Chris Rock's joke was also criticized in the immediate aftermath of the slap some commenters merely pointed out that the quip which was a reference to a nearly 25 year old movie wasn't very funny however the majority of those discussing the GI Jane line and the slap brought up Jada Pinkett Smith's alopecia diagnosis the actress went public with her condition in a 2018 Instagram post she explained that she chose to shave her head when patches of her hair began to fall out because she didn't want anyone to think that she had undergone something more serious such as brain surgery Pinkett Smith said dealing with and talking about the medical condition was difficult but she remained in good spirits the post was viewed more than two million times and Pinkett Smith's alopecia was fairly common knowledge by 2022 in the days after the ceremony Rock's brother claimed to the Los Angeles Times that the comedian wasn't aware of Pinkett Smith's diagnosis and wouldn't have gone there had he no known about her struggles with hair loss Hollywood's a small world according to Newsweek The Smiths and Chris Rock had a decades-old personal and working relationship prior to the slap in 1995 Rock guest starred on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air where he and Will Smith became friends a decade later Jada Pinkett Smith and rock both voiced characters in The Animated Madagascar films over the years Rock has expressed admiration for the Smiths and their children however the Goodwill began to turn sour in 2016 when Rock first used the Oscar stage to mock the couple Rock was asked to host the 2016 Oscars in the wake of the 2015 Oscar so white controversy when none of the 20 nominees in the acting categories were people of color when it happened again in 2016 The Smiths and a number of prominent black filmmakers boycotted the ceremony among many other talented actors of color who went without nominations many believed Smith was snubbed for his performance in concussion Rock poked fun at Will's dashed Oscar hopes and at Jada's protest in one of his monologues at the award show speaking about will he said said it's not fair that Will was this good and didn't get nominated it's also not fair that Will was paid 20 million dollars for wild wild west and in a dig at Jade is more subdued Celebrity Status rock made the joke Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna's panties I wasn't invited the public nature of the slap provided a window through which the public could view Will and Jada Pinkett Smith's infamously complicated marriage though they've been married since 1997 Jada has occasionally expressed some provocative opinions about The Very concept of marriage which may have led to the public perception that she was less than content eventually gossip began to spread that Jada had engaged in an affair with singer Mark Anthony and that the Smiths had an open relationship in fact the couple even separated for a time though they remained legally married I was devastated even worse than a divorce we we broke up within our marriage things reached a fever pitch in 2020 when singer August Alcina asserted that will had given him his Blessing to date his wife though Jada's Camp again denied the story she and will aired their marital problems with more specificity during an episode of her talk show red table talk Jada admitted that she had been in a relationship with Alcina while she and Smith were in the midst of their trial Separation Will went into more detail about their ups and downs in his 2021 Memoir The Smiths remained together but their reactions to Chris Rock's joke at the 94th Oscars were scrutinized through the lens of the Intrigue surrounding their love life only seconds after the slap the entertainment industry and the public at large sorted into two sides one that defended Chris Rock's joke and one that defended Will Smith's anger it is uh it is Monday unless you're Chris Rock because I'm pretty sure he got slapped into next week in the room Smith was comforted by the likes of Bradley Cooper Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry elsewhere in the audience attendees including Serena Williams Seth stunt but while some celebrities like lakeith Stanfield Queen Latifah and Minnie Driver expressed empathy for all parties involved many threw their support behind either Smith or Rock Judd Apatow Amy Schumer Mark Hamill Stephen Colbert Kathy Griffin Zoe Kravitz Mia Farrow O.J Simpson and many more were appalled that Smith resorted to violence or expressed concern about the precedent that Smith may have set for audience members attacking comedians others like Tiffany haddish Nicki Minaj Sophia Bush and Will's son Jaden Smith either sympathized for will or criticized Rock for his insensitive one-liner the general public's opinion seems to be split down the middle in the aftermath countless think pieces would be written about how the slap related to Rey's toxic masculinity mental health and Myriad other topics the incident was far too thorny for anyone to fully figure out but that didn't stop thousands from weighing in in the interest of the many other honorees in attendance producers for the Oscars decided to keep the broadcast going after the slap after the fact the organization tweeted a short prepared statement disavowing Smith's actions and celebrating the other nominees upon winning his best actor Oscar Will Smith seemed to understand immediately that he'd forever tarnished what was supposed to be his big night still somewhat unexpectedly Smith received a standing ovation from most of those in attendance which tin sit well with some in the room and others watching from home the atmosphere of the event was made more tense by Will's speech he spoke for well over the allotted time for Oscar recipients and used his soapbox to make some questionable comparisons between his assault on Chris Rock and Richard Williams parenting style positioning his actions as born out of love for his family however for many listening this analogy only brought to mind language used by many abusers to repackage their emotional and physical abuse as love after the awards show concluded Smith preemptively resigned from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and weeks later the organization announced that he would be banned from the Oscar ceremony and any other related events for 10 years his punishment did not however exclude him from being nominated for future Awards Smith publicly accepted these decisions in a statement for his part Will Smith has tried to make amends and move on he put out a YouTube video in July 2022 outlining his progress saying that he apologized to rock and his family Jada and their own family as well as his fellow 2022 nominees it really breaks my heart to have stolen and and tarnished tarnished your moment he also said that he reached out to rock directly and even though the comedian did not press charges he was not yet ready to talk during his press tour for emancipation Smith spoke to former The Daily Show host Trevor Noah about the slap and acknowledged he created a mess for himself Smith does have upcoming projects in the works primarily as a producer and a potential Bad Boys 4 is still up in the air though his star may eventually Rise Again Will Smith's name and reputation will forever be associated with the unfortunate episode that marked one of the best and worst days of his life foreign

Channel: Looper

Views: 81,385

Keywords: looper, will smith, oscars, chris rock, the slap

Id: ZhfQET0hUHw

Length: 11min 56sec (716 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 04 2023