The Best Reactions From Celebrities (And The Internet) To Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock At The Oscars

Casey Young·
LIFE
·
Nicole Kidman
Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Will Smith gave a whole new meaning to the term “punchline” last night.

Of course, all anyone can talk about this morning is the moment when Will Smith walked up on stage and slapped Chris Rock in the face live on the Academy Awards show last night, after he made a joke about Will’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who was also in the audience.

While introducing the nominees for Best Documentary, Chris made a joke about Jada (who has been open about her hair-loss struggle) starring in the next GI Jane movie (GI Jane is bald).

Clearly, Will (or Jada) didn’t take too kindly to that at all, and the fallout since has been something else. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much talk about the Oscar’s, which has led a lot of people to wonder if the whole thing was staged in attempt to get the ratings up.

The saying “there’s no such thing as bad PR” exists for a reason. Also, didn’t Will sit through rehearsals and hear the joke prior to the live show? I have so many questions…

See the wild, uncensored moment for yourself straight from Australian TV:

Later that night, Will won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in King Richard, a story about Richard Williams, the father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams. He delivered a tear-soaked, emotional speech about his call to protect and defend those around him.

And he was allowed to stay and accept that award because Oscar’s host Chris Rock declined to press charges, according to the LAPD.

Needless to say, the moment absolutely blew up on social media, and the reactions were priceless. From celebrities who witnessed it live in-person firsthand, to people throwing in their two cents online, it was highly entertaining (irrespective of whether or not it was the right or wrong thing to do), if I may say so myself.

One of the best reactions of the night comes from Nicole Kidman, who was really all of us watching that go down on live TV, and probably deserves an Oscar for Best Actress with this moment:

Beyoncé and Jay Z also looked stunned from the audience:

And my personal favorite comes from Lupita Nyong’o, who was right in the middle of the action sitting in between Will and Jada on the front row:

Billie Eilish also seemed confused about what was going on:

And of course, Twitter remains undefeated, and there were some hilarious reactions and memes going around there, too:

But I kinda feel like Chris might’ve had the best reaction of all, in a way. I mean, he was probably stunned (if it was, in fact, real… we’ll probably never know the truth), but he managed to stay extremely calm and handle the whole thing really well.

He literally stood there, took the hit, and then just said “Oh wow, wow. Will Smith smacked the shit out of me… ”

What is he on? Because I want some of that:

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