Chris Rock was as stunned—maybe more so—as the rest of us when Will Smith walked onto the Oscars stage last night and slapped him over a joke he made about Jada Pinkett Smith. Still, the comedian is not pressing charges, the Los Angeles Police Department confirms to BAZAAR.com.
It all started when Rock made an insensitive joke about Pinkett Smith, comparing her to the 1997 film character G.I. Jane, who has a close-shaven buzz cut. "Jada, I love ya. G.I. Jane 2, can't wait to see it," Rock said to stunned crowd reactions.
The joke rubbed the Smiths the wrong way, because the Knives Out 2 actress has been living with alopecia, previously opening up about her struggles and the trouble she's had accepting her new look.
"I've been getting a lot of questions about why I've been wearing this turban," she said on her Red Table Talk show in 2018. "Well, I've been having issues with hair loss. And it was terrifying when it first started."
In December of last year, she posted a video of her bald look, writing, "Mama's gonna have to take it down to the scalp so nobody thinks she got brain surgery or something😜
Me and this alopecia are going to be friends … period!😆."
Following Rock's joke at the Oscars, the King Richard actor got up from his seat and walked to the stage, where Rock was presenting an award, and slapped Rock to the shock of everyone watching. The sound was heard through the microphone. "Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me," Rock told the audience, matter-of-factly.
After Smith returned to his seat, it was evident he was still furious. Though at this point, most U.S. streaming platforms pressed the "mute" button for viewers, fans watching the Oscars around the world shared videos, with sound, of Smith's angry words to Rock. "Keep my wife's name out your fucking mouth," Smith yelled. "Wow, dude. It was a G.I. Jane joke," Rock responded, still incredulous. "Keep my wife's name out your fucking mouth," Smith repeated. "I'm going to, okay?" Rock said, awkwardly trying to defuse the tension.
Though Smith later apologized for his actions—to the Academy, viewers, and everyone except Rock—during his tearful Best Actor acceptance speech, we all know that the photos of him slapping Rock will, without a doubt, circle the web for years to come.
Regardless, it seems Rock just wants to put the whole thing to bed.
"LAPD investigative entities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program. 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," the LAPD says in a statement to BAZAAR.
