“Leave my wife’s name out of your f–cking mouth!”
Earlier tonight, Chris Rock was presenting the award for Best Documentary Feature when he made a joke about some of the couples in the audience.
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It initially started as a joke about Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem — both of whom are nominated for Oscars — and how if Javier wins and Penelope doesn’t, then he actually won’t be winning tonight.
Chris then pivoted to Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith. Chris was excited about King Richard but Jada — who isn’t nominated for an award this year — got a joke about being in G.I. Jane 2.
Here’s the moment Chris Rock made a “G.I. Jane 2” joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, prompting Will Smith to punch him and yell, “Leave my wife’s name out of your f–king mouth.” #Oscars
Twitter: @Variety
Before we unpack this, it’s important to know that Jada has been open about her hair loss struggle and alopecia diagnosis:
Almost immediately after the words left Chris’ mouth, Will walked up on stage and hit him in the face.
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Chris Rock then said, “Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me.”
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And from the audience, for those of you at home who were confused, Will screamed at him to “Leave [his] wife’s name out of his fucking mouth!”
This also isn’t the first time that Chris Rock has made a joke at Jada’s expense:
“Jada says she’s not coming. Protesting. I’m like, ‘Ain’t she on a TV show?’” he said during his opening monologue regarding the controversy of the acting nominations’ lack of diversity, and Pinkett-Smith’s decision to boycott the ceremony. “Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited! Oh, that’s not an invitation I would turn down!”
Lupita is all of us at this very moment:
Shortly after this, Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry took Will aside to chat with him and calm him down.
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This was before Will Smith won the award for Best Actor where he emphasized the importance of “protecting your family” but he also issued an apology to the Academy and fellow nominees.
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“Art imitates life, I look like the crazy father…love will make you do crazy things…I’m hoping the Academy invites me back.”
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