It seems that many inside the Dolby Theatre had the same question that those watching the 94th Academy Awards had: what just happened? After Chris Rock made a crack about Jada Pinkett-Smith, her husband, Will Smith, stormed the stage and struck the comedian, before shouting at Chris to “keep my wife’s name out your f-cking mouth.” This wasn’t a bit because The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg tweeted that during the commercial break, “Will Smith [was] pulled aside and comforted by Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry, who motion for him to brush it off.” When Will won the Best Actor award for his part in King Richard, he said that Denzel told him, “At your highest moment, that’s when the devil comes for you.”
“Will appears to wipe tears from his eyes as he sits back down with Jada, with Denzel comforting Jada and Will’s rep by his side,” added Feinberg. Photographers inside the Theatre also captured a moment when Bradley Cooper seemed to walk up to Will and speak to him. The photo showed Will looking directly into Bradley’s face while the A Star Is Born star talked to his fellow actor.
https://twitter.com/ScottFeinberg/status/1508273120473325573
‘At your highest moment this is when the devil comes for you’ pic.twitter.com/znZ27dEhuF
— Lulu NYT (@LuluGNavarro) March 28, 2022
Ramin Setoodeh, the executive editor of Variety, tweeted that Will and Jada “have been holding hands since the Chris Rock incident at the Oscars.” When Jane Campion won the Oscar for Best Director, Will Smith stood to applaud her win.
Will and Jada have been holding hands since the Chris Rock incident at the #Oscars. pic.twitter.com/svzCMcKXy9
— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) March 28, 2022
This moment came after Will, 53, and Chris, 57, went down in Academy Awards history. In the moment that the 2022 Oscars will be known for, Chris made an off-handed joke about Jada, 50, and her bald head, and how he was looking forward to seeing her in “G.I. Jane 2.” Will didn’t like Chris making the joke about Jada, whose baldness is caused by alopecia, which causes hair loss. Will walked up to the stage and slapped Chris. The blow seemed to hit Chris’s chest, as there was a huge thud heard during the Mar. 27 broadcast.
“Wow! Will Smith just smacked the sh-t out of me,” said Chris, stunned at what just happened. To that, Will shouted for Chris to “keep my wife’s name out of your f-ckin’ mouth.” “It was a G.I Jane joke,” Chris said, still somewhat stunned. Will shouted the same thing again: “Keep my wife’s name out your f-ckin’ mouth!”