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Sunday’s 94th Academy Awards took a shocking turn when Will Smith took offense to a joke made by Chris Rock about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and slapped Rock onstage, then yelled expletives from his seat.
After Rock joked that he was looking forward to Pinkett Smith’s sequel to “G.I. Jane” — she sported a shaved head to the Oscars — Smith stood up from his seat near the stage, strode up to Rock and slapped him. After returning to his seat, Smith twice shouted at Rock to “Take my wife’s name out of your (expletive) mouth.”
Smith apparently took particular offense to Rock’s joke because his wife has, in the past, openly spoke of having a medical condition that causes hair loss.
Almost even more bizarrely, the ceremony continued on without another mention of the incident.
While the incident was muted on TV in the U.S., the audio aired in other countries, such as Australia and Japan, where it was quite clear what Smith said.
The audience at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre and viewers at home were stunned.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
