In what is perhaps the most shocking moment in Academy Awards history, Will Smith walked to the stage and physically assaulted comedian Chris Rock as he presented the award for Best Documentary moments before Will himself won Best Actor.
The question on everyone’s mind is why? It’s because the joke was about a disability.
The explanation for the answer is a bit more complicated than you might think, so let’s recap the moment first.
Chris Rock made a joke about Will Smith’s Wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, joking that he can’t wait to see her starring in “G.I. Jane 2”. The joke was in reference to her shaved head, a call back to the Demi Moore starring film from 1997 in which a shaved-head Demi joined the army.
Will Smith was seen laughing at the joke, while Jada visibly rolled her eyes.
Moments later, Rock commented that ‘Richard’, the character of Richard Williams that Smith played in ‘King Richard’, known for his outbursts of behavior as the father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, was heading towards him, before Smith slapped him.
“Will Smith just slapped the **** out of me!” Rock said to a laugh.
Will Smith then continued screaming at Rock from the audience, telling him repeatedly to get his wife’s name out of his mouth, along with expletives. By the second time Smith said it, the audience was stunned to silence, changing the energy of the room for the rest of the broadcast.
This part of the broadcast had its audio cut in the US, but aired in some parts of the world, leaving many to wonder what had just happened.
Watch it below:
The question of course is why? The answer lies in Rock’s joke–which was more offensive than many may have realized.
Pinkett Smith, 50, is struck with a condition called Alopecia Areata, which causes hair loss.
As noted by film critic Matt Zoller Seitz on Twitter, who has personal experience with the matter, this is ultimately a joke making fun of her disability.
Why Will Smith took Rock’s joke so personally
Pinkett-Smith first revealed the information during her Red Table Talk series back in 2018.
“A lot of people have been asking why I’ve been wearing turbans. Well, I haven’t talked about it. It’s not easy to talk about, but I am going to talk about it,” she shared, saying it was “terrifying” at first.
“I was in the shower one day and had just handfuls of hair in my hands and I was just like, ‘Oh my God, am I going bald?'” she said at the time. “It was one of those times in my life where I was literally shaking in fear. That’s why I cut my hair, and why I continue to cut it.”
“Now at this point, I can only laugh,” she added in an Instagram video in December 2021. “Y’all know I’ve been struggling with alopecia and just all of a sudden one day, look at this line right here. Look at that.”
She continued, “So it just showed up like that and this is going to be a little bit more difficult for me to hide. So I thought I’d just share it so y’all are not asking any questions.”
She also mentioned she was taking steroid injections.
“They seem to be helping, but not curing … but I’m open to other ideas,” she said in another video.
Pinkett-Smith shaved her head back last July, inspired by her daughter Willow.
“Willow made me do it because it was time to let go,” she captioned a photo of the two of them. “BUT … my 50’s are bout to be Divinely lit with this shed❣️?.”
Will Smith himself seemed shaken giving his acceptance speech moments later, with tears in his eyes. He did not apologize to Chris Rock, but did apologize to the Academy, saying that he hopes they invite him back.
While there is no condoning physical assault, hopefully this makes what happened a bit clearer.