In slow motion it looks like he never actually connects with Chris Rock’s face, and the exaggerated head turn that occurs looks exactly like a Hollywood stunt. If someone unexpectedly slaps you, it’s not going to completely turn your head around, and the impact is probably going to cause you to stagger back some. Rock never moved his body at all, other than the head turn. His face also never looked like it had been hit after that.
Far,fake,fake + I’m tired of seeing Tom Hanks in movies!
Smith did have a little smirk on his face as he turned around. Hard to know for certain if that was a tell or if he was just being smug. Chris Rock is also a professional and knows how to handle a heckler on stage - unlikely he would over-react he was there working. So again, hard to know.
It could have been half farce/half real. Like Smith meant to smack him but more in jest than out of anger. But when Smith started cursing, well then he took it to another level.
All could have been staged, but, if it was planned by the Academy it was really very poorly done.
Rock also had zero evidence of damage in photographs taken at the after-party. A shot like that should have left a welt, or even a scratch left by jewelry or a finger nail. Zip, zero, nadda.