Will Smith Smacks Chris Rock in the Face Live at the Oscars After Rock Jokes About Jada Pinkett’s Hair

Were you watching the Oscars last night? Even if you weren’t, you may have seen some buzz about an incident that happened during the show. It had nothing to do with who won what. It had to do with a joke gone terribly wrong.

Chris Rock was on stage making jokes, as comedians do when they’re on stage. Unfortunately, he chose to make a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith‘s wife. The Smiths were sitting next to each other in the front row. Rock joked, “Jada, I love ya. ‘G.I. Jane 2’ – can’t wait to see it. Alright.” The joke about ‘G.I. Jane’ was in reference to the fact that Pinkett Smith has shaved her head.

The camera turned to get a reaction shot, and Pinkett Smith looked unhappy about the joke while her husband was laughing. The camera turned back to Rock, and we don’t know what happened in that second that the camera was off Smith and Pinkett Smith, but something changed in Smith’s mind. Instead of laughing along with the joke, he no longer found it funny. Perhaps he saw the unamused look on his wife’s face.

Suddenly Smith was up on stage walking straight toward Rock, who laughed, having no idea what was about to happen. Then Smith shocked the world by smacking Rock in the face before turning to go back to his seat. Watch this incident for yourself below.

On ABC, the broadcast didn’t televise what happened next, and we saw friends on social media who saw the live broadcast wondering if the smack was staged. Then they saw the uncensored version.

After smacking Rock, Smith returned to his seat, but he wasn’t done. He opened his mouth and yelled back at Rock, “Keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth.” Rock defended himself by saying, “It was a ‘G.I. Jane’ joke,” but in that moment, Smith couldn’t take a joke. He repeated himself, but louder this time. Rock responded, “I’m going to, okay?”

Rock was speechless for a moment, clearly trying to figure out what he was supposed to do next. He looked off stage for a second. Then he said, “That was a greatest night in the history of television.”