slap from Will Smith to the Oscars presenter grabs (Video)

Hollywood: Viewers of the Oscars Sunday night were stunned and did not know what happened when actor Will Smith took to the stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock

The evening's co-host Chris Rock had just released a joke about the shaved head of Will Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who has a condition that leads to massive hair loss.

Rock likened Jada Pinkett Smith's short hair to Demi Moore's shaven head in Ridley Scott's 1997 movie GI Jane. It was noted that Rock's statement upset Jada Pinkett Smith, who had previously spoken out about her hair loss. Will Smith, who laughed at first in jest, was only on stage and slapped Chris Rock, and the slap was heard in the microphones to the amazement of the audience in the hall or the spectators who watched the evening from their homes .

 

ABC cut the sound during the ensuing scene, but the dialogue was audible on foreign televisions.

Chris Rock said: “Wow. Wow. Will Smith just slapped me." "It was a joke about GI Jane," he justified.

"Leave my wife's name out of your damn mouth," cried Will Smith, and went back to his wife's side.

Hollywood star Will Smith then won the Best Actor Oscar for his role in "King Richard", where he plays the father and coach of tennis champions Serena and Venus Williams.

The actor cried, "apologizing to the Academy" (the body that administers the Oscars) .

 

Smith shouted at Rock to “keep my wife's name out of your (expletive) mouth,” and the crowd hushed as it became clear this was no act. Smith later won the best actor Oscar; Rock chose not to file a police report.

“Will Smith owes Chris Rock a huge apology. There is no excuse for what he did. He's lucky Chris is not filing assault charges,” producer, director and actor Rob Reiner commented on Twitter.

George Takei said Smith's losing his cool was a bad look when so many people were watching: “Many people, especially kids, look up to actors. Because of that, we have an obligation to try to be good role models. With celebrity comes 

Judd Apatow was highly critical of Smith in a now-deleted Twitter post, describing the attack “out of control rage and violence.” He noted that celebrities have been the target of jokes for decades: “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.”

Richard Marx said no poor joke justified the response: “I guess millions of people can't comprehend that no level of fame or accolades gives license to commit battery over a verbal joke.”

And Mark Hamill called the incident the ugliest Oscar moment ever, tweeting “Stand-up comics are very adept at handling hecklers. Violent physical assault... not so much.”

Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, wrote: “I know we're all still processing, but the way casual violence was normalized tonight by a collective national audience will have consequences that we can't even fathom in the moment.”