Oscars 2022: 'King Richard' Will Smith punches Chris Rock, later apologises

A little drama got recorded on the cameras when Will Smith punched Chris Rock for cracking a joke on Jada Pinkett Smith. He later apologised to the Academy and his fellow nominees while delivering his tearful speech upon winning the Oscar for King Richard.

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Not all went well between Will Smith and Chris Rock when the latter tried to crack a joke on Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith during the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday (Monday morning in India). Chris was presenting the Oscars when he cracked a joke that clearly didn’t go well with Smith and led to an altercation between the two that later got censored.

“Jada, I love ya. GI Jane 2 — can’t wait to see it,” Chirs Rock said, directing his comments to Jada Pinkett Smith, while he was presenting Best Documentary Feature. Jada, in the past, spoke openly about alopecia, her hair-loss condition.

At first, Will Smith appeared to pass off the joke with a light laugh. However, his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith appeared displeased and rolled her eyes. This led Smith to walk up to Chris Rock on the stage, taking a swing at him. To this, Rock said, “Wow, Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me.”

To watch the video, click here.

However, things didn’t settle in there just yet. When Will Smith returned to his seat, he yelled at Chris Rock from the audience “Keep my wife’s name out your f–king mouth.” He kept repeating it despite Rock protesting that the dig was nothing but a joke. “I’m going to, OK? That was the greatest night in the history of television,” Rock said. A few awkward moments later, the Oscars continued with the presentation of Documentary Feature nominees.

To watch the video, click here.

The exchange of words between Will Smith and Chris Rock was censored on ABC. However, the international feeds revealed the uncensored, unbleeped interaction between the two. Meanwhile, Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkette Smith were attending the Oscars since the former has been nominated in the Best Actor category for his film ‘King Richard’. A little later after his altercation with Chris Rock, Smith took away the Oscar. He also recently won the BAFTA Awards 2022 under the same category.