It was technically less than 24 hours but it felt like it was long-overdue when Will Smith apologized directly to Chris Rock for the Oscars slap seen around the world.
Hollywood – and the world– is still reeling from the repercussions of the chaos that Smith created when he strode up on stage, slapped Chris Rock in the face, returned to his seat and proceeded to scream profanities at the comedian in front of the crowd at the Dolby Theater and a global television audience.
A night that should be remembered for its history-making wins, including Smith’s own as best actor, is instead going down in the history books as a new low for civilized society.
If you been living under a rock, here’s what happened. During Rock’s introduction of the best documentary he made a couple of trademark quips including one directed at Javier Bardem and his wife Penelope Cruz, both nominees in leading actor categories, who took it in great stride. He said Bardem was praying for Smith to win best actor, so he would be good with his wife if she didn’t also take home a trophy.
Rock then turned his attention to the Smiths, saying “Love you Jada. Can’t wait to see you in ‘GI Jane 2,’” a reference to the Demi Moore film in which she rocked a buzz cut and as most people would agree, was a total badass and looked hot as hell.
Will Smith was first seen laughing at the joke but his wife was not amused and rolled her eyes. Next thing you knew, at least what American audiences saw on ABC, was Smith striding up on stage from his front row seat and smacking Rock in the face.
Because the audio was completely silenced, most people thought it was a comedic bit until the camera showing a close-up of Smith back in his seat screaming as Lupita N’yongo looked on, horrified.
The gravity of what went down only became clear when international outlets began posting the uncensored clip, after #whatjusthappened began trending on Twitter.
Rock was remarkable in his composure in continuing on with presenting the Oscar for best documentary after remarking that “this was the greatest night on television ever.”
That trophy went to Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson for Summer of Soul (Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).
What was also horrifying is how Smith’s violent outburst overshadowed not only Questlove, but every other winner announced after the shocking display of violence and anger.
Smith’s mea culpa, posted (with comments disabled) on his Instagram page, did little, if anything to assuage his hijacking of the 94th Annual Academy Awards, which will forever be remembered as the night he completely lost his shit in front of a global audience.
In another lame effort at damage control, earlier in the day, after having done nothing on Oscar night, the film academy announced it would review the incident under its bylaws and the laws of the State of California.
