Will Smith slapping Chris Rock

This is the dramatic moment some of Hollywood's biggest stars reacted with shock at an Oscars viewing party after Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock during the ceremony last night.

An extraordinary photograph showed a host of A-listers from Jason Bateman to Sienna Miller huddled round Sarah Paulson's phone at the Vanity Fair Oscars viewing party, to read reports of what Smith had said to Rock.

The image shows the stunned reactions of Bateman and his wife Amanda Anka, Taika Waititi, Miller and her beau Oli Green, Sarah Paulson and directors Ron Howard and JJ Abrams and his wife Katie McGrath.

Millions of people around the world quickly reacted to the image, hailing it more iconic than Ellen DeGeneres' Oscars selfie in 2014 - while stars lined up to back Smith for standing up for his wife following Rock's joke.

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez said she was 'cheering for Will', One Direction singer Liam Payner said 'whatever he felt that he did, he had the right to do', and Smith's son Jaden tweeted: 'And That's How We Do It.'

But others condemned Smith, with director Judd Apatow claiming the actor 'could have killed' Rock, while comic Kathy Griffin said it was 'very bad practice to walk up on stage and physically assault a comedian'.

The expressions of the stars as the news broke included Thor director Waititi's open mouth, Bateman's stunned gaze and Paulson frantically searching on Google as she showed the reaction to Miller on her phone.

Miller appeared to have dashed over with her boyfriend Green, as she looked over Paulson's shoulder at the news of the incident that will forever mark the 94th annual Academy Awards ceremony.

The picture was tweeted by Vanity Fair fashion writer Derek Blasberg, who wrote: 'Meanwhile, this is everybody at my table at the Vanity Fair Oscar dinner manically googling WTF Will Smith just said to Chris Rock.'

It comes after Smith, 53, took offence to a gag Rock made on stage about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith's short haircut, resulting in him marching on stage to attack Rock before swearing after sitting back down.

Smith and Rock have a feud dating back six years after he cracked a joke at Pinkett Smith's expense at the 2016 awards ceremony. Rock poked fun at her for boycotting the Oscars when Smith failed to receive a nomination for the movie Concussion. He said: 'You get mad. It's not fair that Will was this good and didn't get nominated. It's also not fair that Will was paid $20million for Wild Wild West.'

Many stars missed out on last night's ceremony in Hollywood and instead watched from a glamorous dinner hosted by the magazine, who later held a star-studded after party for the biggest stars including Smith himself.

Rock, a veteran stand-up who has previously made jokes about Will and his wife, upset Smith when he compared his wife's hair to that of G. I. Jane's, who has a shaved head. Pinkett Smith suffers from hair loss condition alopecia.

While the Academy audience witnessed the moment in real time, the stars at the Vanity Fair dinner were shocked to hear of the slap moments after it took place.

Speaking at the party P Diddy opened up about his plea for resolution: 'I was just as shocked as everybody else, but I had just went on how I was feeling, and I thought it was very important to bring love into the room. I think we know both of those guys' character, and, you know, sometimes s**t happens.'




Meanwhile, Minnie Driver said: 'We all got to witness something extremely personal. I feel terrible that there was so much emotion happening, that was in front of everybody else. It felt deeply personal.

White Men Can't Jump actress Rosie Perez said: 'I just hope they work it out. I don't even want to go to there, you know what I mean. I just hope they work it out.'




Leslie Odom Jr took a more serious note when asked for his thoughts. 'This business can sometimes feel like walking around with your skin ripped off,' he said. 'It's a very vulnerable thing, and so I think we saw two artists with their hearts open. It's a vulnerable moment, sometimes it's messy, but it's always beautiful when it's the truth.'

Meanwhile, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez showed her support for the actor, and said: 'I was cheering for Will. He's one of the only black men in that position to have won an award like that, it was really well deserved. I'm here for him.'

When asked about the moment, she added: 'Sometimes when you're speaking about somebody's wife, you can't really help that. That's what I'll say.'

Henry Goulding added: 'I think they're both legends, there's something deeper to be discussed. I hope they both step up man to man and figure it all out. Which I'm sure they will.

While Karomo Brown said: 'Sometimes as celebrities we look at them as if they aren't human beings, so we poke and poke. That was a high emotion night for Will Smith regardless, but we need to know at a certain pointe everyone breaks.

'But I think these are two men that will come together, figure it out and say enough in enough, I'm sorry. You know what I mean? I've never been in that situation. I can't condone violence of any nature, but I can understand protecting those you love.'

Will and Jada's son Jaden appeared to back his father in a since-deleted tweet.

He wrote: 'And That's How We Do It.'

The 23-year-old rapper later shared a selfie and said his dad's acceptance speech for his first Oscar for Best Actor reduced him to tears. In the second deleted post, he wrote: 'My Dads Speech Made Me Cry.'

Hip-hop legend 50 Cent shared a meme of the moment Will struck Chris with 'Everybody Hates Chris' across it, the name of the sitcom the 57-year-old stand-up narrated.

The 'Candy Shop' hitmaker joked in the caption: 'B**** don't you ever play with me. LOL.'




By contrast, director Judd Apatow hailed the attack 'pure out of control rage and violence' and said Will 'could have killed' Chris. In a since-deleted post, he wrote: 'He could have killed him. That's pure out of control rage and violence. They've heard a million jokes about them in the last three decades. They are not freshman in the world of Hollywood and comedy. He lost his mind.

'Seems like Will Smith's plan to get comedian and the world to not make jokes about him is not going to pan out. The Williams family must be furious. Pure narcissism.'




Referring to Demi Moore playing GI Jane in the 1997 film, he added: 'Also — GI Jane was gorgeous. What exactly is insulting about being compared to a ripped, stunning Demi?'

Comic Kathy Griffin was also unimpressed. She tweeted: 'Let me tell you something, it's a very bad practice to walk up on stage and physically assault a Comedian. Now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theaters. (sic)'

While One Direction star Liam Payne told reporters: 'I believe whatever he felt that he did, he had the right to do.

'I had to leave my chair I'll be honest with you, it cut me really deep. Will apologised upon receiving his Oscar and no charges will be made.

There are already calls for the star, 53, to be stripped of the award hours after becoming only the fifth black actor in history to collect the biggest prize in Hollywood for his portrayal of Richard Williams, the father who raised tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams, in 'King Richard'.

In a rambling acceptance speech a sobbing Smith admitted that 'love makes you do crazy things' - but tellingly failed to apologise to Rock for his assault, only apologising to Academy and his fellow nominees. Rock has told LAPD he will not press charges.

Around 40 minutes earlier the comedian had made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head. He said: 'Jada, GI Jane 2, I can't wait to see it'. Ms Smith has been grappling with hair loss since revealing her alopecia diagnosis in 2018.

The 50-year-old actress rolled her eyes and her husband, considered a shoo-in for the Best Actor gong, appeared to be laughing along with the gag. A giggling Chris Rock then said 'uh oh' seconds later as Will Smith suddenly stormed on to the stage and slapped him around the face, with an audible smack. Rock then began rubbing his cheek and said: 'Wow, Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me.'

Most of the assembled audience of the world's biggest stars assembled last night at The Dolby Theatre in LA - and millions of people watching around the world - initially believed it was a prank, continuing to laugh at what had happened.

But Smith's meltdown continued when he returned to his seat as he repeatedly screamed: 'Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth'. The crowd then fell into stunned silence as it became crystal clear the attack was genuine. Chris Rock replied to him saying: 'I'm going to, okay?' before laughing uncomfortably saying: 'That was the greatest night in the history of television'. Smith's sweary rant was muted by directors because the show's live broadcast is slightly delayed in the US.

But it was aired in full to some international audiences with the uncut clip already been viewed more than a million times on social media and YouTube in the past few hours.

Any questions over whether the altercation was genuine were answered when just over half an hour later Smith was given the Best Actor award and apologised for the assault. LAPD has since said that Mr Rock has declined to press assault charges - but they will be willing to investigate if he decides to pursue.



In his acceptance speech a crying Smith said: 'Love makes you do crazy things', as he clutched his Best Actor Oscar statuette.

In what should have been the greatest moment of his career, Smith accepted the award and said: 'You gotta be able to take abuse, and you gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you gotta be able to have people disrespecting you and you gotta smile and you gotta pretend like that`s OK.

'Denzel (Washington) said to me a few minutes ago, he said, 'At your highest moment, be careful. That's when the devil comes for you.'

It's like I want to be a vessel for love. I want to say thank you to Venus and Serena. I want to say thank you to Venus and Serena and the entire Williams family for entrusting me with your story. That's what I want to do. I want to be an ambassador of that kind of love and care and concern.

He went on: I want to apologize to the Academy, I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said. I look like the crazy father just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things'. He added: 'I'm hoping the Academy invites me back. Thank you'.

Smith's relationship with his wife had been the butt of jokes during awards season. At the BAFTAs in London a fortnight ago host Rebel Wilson targeted the couple when he won won the Leading Actor award for his role in King Richard. The assembled audience at the Royal Albert Hall, which didn't include the star who stayed in LA, groaned as she said his 'best performance in the past year was being OK with all his wife's boyfriends' - a nod to Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith's open relationship.

It came after he recently admitted his wife had 'never believed in a conventional marriage' and claims she had an affair. This may explain why he reacted so sensitively to Rock's joke about her.

Journalists covering the awards ceremony from the press area were instructed not to ask any attendees about Smith slapping Rock, according to BBC correspondent David Sillito.

Late Sunday night, the LAPD issued a statement saying that Rock had not filed a police report against Smith, but that if he chooses to do so, police will investigate.

'LAPD investigative entities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program,' the statement said. 'The incident involved one individual slapping another.'

It was not immediately clear whether the Academy would penalize Smith in any way for his outburst.

The slapping incident occurred after Rock cracked jokes about the 'GI Jane' haircut -- referring to the Demi Moor character who famously had a shaved head -- of Pinkett Smith.

The shocking scene, broadcast live around the world, stunned both the live audience at the Dolby Theatre and TV viewers.

After Smith strode out on stage and slapped Rock with an open right hand, Rock staggered and exclaimed 'wow, Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me.'

Smith, visibly emotional, walked back to his seat in the audience and shouted: 'Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth.'

The incident that sparked it all, was when Rock looked at Jada, who has a shaved head, and said: 'Jada, can't wait for GI Jane 2', prompting the actress to roll her eyes. Pinkett Smith has been grappling with hair loss since revealing her alopecia diagnosis in 2018.

After being slapped, Rock appeared shocked and flustered as he tried to resume presenting the best documentary feature category.

'That was the greatest night in the history of television,' Rock said, before awkwardly returning to presenting best documentary, which went to Questlove's 'Summer of Soul (...or When the Revolution Was Not Televised).'

Vanity Fair executive editor Ramin Setoodeh, who was tweeting live from the ceremony, said that someone who works for the Oscars told him that Rock was not interrupted by Smith at rehearsals yesterday.

'It was not supposed to happen. It was real,' he wrote.

After the slap seen round the world, Smith was seen being comforted and consoled by Denzel Washington and actor-producer Tyler Perry.

Bradley Cooper also pulled Smith aside and was seen in close conversation with him.

Setoodeh, watching from inside the theater, said that Smith's publicist approached him and spoke to him during a commercial break.

Smith, who plays Venus and Serena Williams' father in 'King Richard,' later in the show won best actor, his first Oscar.

It meant Smith again took the stage shortly after what seemed likely to be one of the most infamous moments in Academy Awards history.

Smith's acceptance speech vacillated between defense and apology.

'Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family,' Smith said in his first remarks. 'In this time in my life, in this moment I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do.'

He continued: 'I'm being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people.'

Smith shared what Washington told him: 'At your highest moment, be careful because that's when the devil comes for you.'

Ultimately, Smith apologized to the academy and to his fellow nominees, but not to Rock.

'Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father' said Smith. 'But love will make you do crazy things.'