By Yesenia Rocha

Apr. 6, 2022

SAN JOSE, CALIF. — After making an insulting joke about his wife, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on national television at the Oscars award show, which was held on March 27, 2022. 

In 2018, Jada Smith was diagnosed with Alopecia, which is an autoimmune disorder which leads to hair loss. Around July 2021, Mrs. Smith made a decision to shave her head. After reposting a photo her daughter, Willow Smith posted, she captioned it,  “Willow made me do it because it was time to let go BUT … my 50’s are about to be Divinely lit with this shed”.

Mrs. Smith and daughter, Willow Smith

Credits: Yesenia Rocha

Rock made a joke saying,  “Jada I love you, G.I. Jane two, can’t wait to see it,”, referring to the movie “G.I. Jane” which was released in 1997. The main character in this movie has her head shaved bald, like Mrs. Smith. The camera quickly turned to Mrs. Smith after Rock mentions this, she rolled her eyes while her husband was quick to defend her. Mr. Smith walked on the stage where Rock was standing, and smacked him in front of 15.36 million people watching on their tv according to NBC. Rock definitely was holding his tears back in front of everyone

Will Smith slaps Chris Rock at the Oscars

Photo credits: Yesenia Rocha

Once he sat back down, Mr. Smith repeatedly shouted out loud, “Keep my wife’s name out your f*****g mouth,” which made it much more dramatic. Mr. Smith and Mrs. Smith have received a lot of commentary regarding the situation from the Oscars. All of them are mostly 50/50, mentioning Rock shouldn’t have insulted Mrs. Smith, but also that Mr. Smith should have just talked to him personally after the show, like a mature adult would do, instead of slapping him in the face. According to Variety, the Board of Governors for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences met and decided it was appropriate to ban Mr. Smith from any Oscars event for ten years as of April 8, 2022. 

Maya Valencia, junior at Silver Creek mentions, “I think Will Smith was in the right because he was just defending his wife, but it was a joke and Smith didn’t have to go that far especially on TV. Jada looked sad when Chris Rock said that though, so she was probably glad Will defended her. Chris Rock wasn’t right to embarrass her to that level in front of all those people so Will just returned the gesture”