Posted on 03/28/2022 8:52:58 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The smack heard ’round the world will not result in any charges — for now. According to NBC News, comedian Chris Rock declined to press charges against Will Smith after the Oscar-winning actor stormed the stage at the 2022 Academy Awards Sunday (March 27) and smacked Rock across the face with an open hand following a joke about Smith’s wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith.
“LAPD investigative entities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program,” the department said in a statement, NBC reported. “The incident involved one individual slapping another. The individual involved has declined to file a police report. If the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report.”
NBC News reported that spokespeople for Rock did not return requests for comment, and that senior sources at the LAPD said officers typically don’t take action in this kind of suspected misdemeanor battery investigation unless the victim wants to press charges or help fill out an incident report. Presenting the award for best documentary feature, Rock took the stage with some playful jabs at celebs in the audience. After making jokes about Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Denzel Washington, Rock said, “Jada, I love you, G.I Jane 2, can’t wait to see it,” seemingly referring to the actress’s bald head. Pinkett Smith previously opened up about living with alopecia — an autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss — in 2018, and more recently in a December Instagram video.
Though Will Smith seemed to laugh at first, the actress frowned and did not seem amused. The actor then jumped up from his seat soon after and walked onto the stage in what seemed at first to be a planned comedic bit. But after Smith appeared to angrily slap Rock in the face, the stunned-looking comedian stammered a bit, then remarked, “Will Smith just smacked the s–t out of me,” which was followed by a long silence on the live broadcast in which the actor repeatedly demanded that the comedian “keep my wife’s name out of your f—ing mouth.” Unedited international broadcasts of the incident provided the heated audio in full.
A short time after the incident that became an instantly viral moment, eliciting wildly ranging responses from comedians, fellow actors and the Smith’s son, Jaden (who tweeted “And That’s How We Do It”), Will Smith took the stage to accept the best actor award for his portrayal of Venus and Serena Williams’ father, Richard Williams, in King Richard. In the tearful speech, Smith referred to the often-controversial Williams patriarch as a “fierce defender of his family,” and went on to apologize to the Academy and his fellow nominees, but not to Chris Rock.
It was not the first time that Rock and Jada Pinkett Smith have clashed over his comments at the Oscars. When Rock hosted in 2016 and Pinkett Smith was boycotting the event over the “Oscars So White” controversy, Rock joked at the event, “Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited.” She later responded, “Hey, look, it comes with the territory. We gotta keep it moving.”
He got in one little fight and his mom got scared and said “You’re moving with your aunty and uncle in Bel-Air!”
Almost makes me wish MTV would bring back “Celebrity Death Match”.
*seen.
Lol, that it was
Notice that Smith was laughing like everyone else at the joke.
They are so old fashioned to not air it.
This was the kind of thing you would expect (and rightly so) to see on the Jerry Springer and Jenny Jones shows in the 90’s but now we have the same kind of black-on-black violence on TV during prime time and of all programs, The Academy Awards! WTF! So, what is the common thread?
Well, they are actors, after all - actors on the stage at an acting awards show.
So we should assume they are acting.
Plus his walk off like he’d just sorted out John Rambo. Whose next, Jerry Seinfeld? Watch it comedians, the Comedian Killer is loose.
As I said on another board, two of the most important and unchanging rules of life are ones that we learn all the way back on the playground, and no amount of “ban bully” is EVER going to change them:
(1) Talk shit, get hit.
(2) Fists win more arguments than words EVER will.
Of course he did. Why would he press charges when the whole thing was staged?
Typical sucker punch from a wussy thespian wannabe.
A girly strike if there ever was one.
I wouldn’t charge or sue...I’d go on tour and make it all about the trash of Bel Air ...an entire tour featuring those two and their “open” marriage, which is just a beard for the fact that his wife runs him round and round.
Another comment, “I tuned into the Oscars, but it was pre-empted with a Jerry Springer rerun.”
Brilliant PR move. Have actors that most of the world is sick of, act on live TV to create a controversy that will get everyone talking and create some publicity. I have seen the vids of the event. I think only Will Smith was in on it though. I don’t think Chris Rock is a good enough actor to pull that off. But Will Smith is.
I didn’t, won’t and never will watch hollywierd award shows. They don’t like me. But someone told me they didn’t have a lot of political points to make. I can’t understand what is different that they suddenly don’t have political opinions that they want broadcasted live. Hmmm.
I never enjoyed watching the insiders adulate each other. Well, maybe I enjoyed it once or twice when Billy Joel was the host long ago.
Will Smith is a low-life POS. Uncivilized behavior.
It was staged.
When I first heard of this I thought Smith slapped The Rock. Now that would be fun to watch the outcome.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.