Chaos briefly raged at the 2022 Oscars when Will Smith slapped and cursed out Chris Rock for a joke about wife Jada Pinkett Smith. The telecast muted the exchange, which started with Chris jabbed at Jada’s shaven head by making a G.I. Jane joke. Viewers could read Smith’s lips saying, “Keep my wife’s name out of your FUCKING mouth!” It was a tense moment in an otherwise uneven, but inoffensive Oscar broadcast.
The drama started when Chris Rock came out to present the Oscar for Best Documentary. The stand up comic naturally started cracking jokes. When he saw Will Smith, nominated for Best Actor for his work in King Richard, and wife Jada Pinkett Smith seated in a place of honor, he decided to make what he thought was a tame joke. He mentioned that Jada, who is currently rocking a bald style because of autoimmune disorder alopecia, looks like she could star in G.I. Jane. Smith did not take kindly to the jest mocking his wife for embracing her genetic disorder.
Australian-based journalist David Mack captured an uncensored version of the broadcast on Aussie TV and shared it with his Twitter followers.
Vox journalist and critic Alex Abads also found a high-resolution version of the shocking moment.
Later in the night P. Diddy tried to smooth things over by shouting out the show’s three hosts and telling Rock and Smith they would be moving forward with love. “Will and Chris we are gonna solve that like family at the Gold party,” he said.
Funnily enough, this isn’t the first time Chris Rock has taken aim at Jada Pinkett Smith on the Oscar stage. When Rock hosted in 2016, he mocked Pinkett Smith for boycotting the show on account of #OscarsSoWhite. “Jada got mad, said she’s not coming. Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited,” Rock said in his monologue at the time.
