New Video Shows Jada Pinkett Smith’s Reaction to Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock at Oscars

Controversy over the “Slap Heard ‘Round The World” between Will Smith and Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars has not yet died down. In fact, with this latest video of the incident, we’re likely in for a whole new wave of backlash unsolicited opinions thrown all over social media. The video (which is making waves on TikTok) is filmed from the front row of the Oscars audience, where we can see Jada Pinkett Smith sitting just in front of the camera person, and can now witness exactly how the actress reacted when Will Smith stormed the stage and slapped Chris Rock: 

The viewing public is likely to have a field day interpreting just what it means when Jada is visibly laughing after Chris Rock said “Will Smith just slapped the sh*t out of me.” Some people will interpret the laughter as a nervous reaction to an extremely tense and awkward moment; after all, much has been made about Will’s initial moment of visibly laughing at Chris Rock’s joke, before he suddenly switched to extreme anger and physical menace. That’s all to say: sometimes laughter is involuntary in extreme situations. 

However, as commenters have been pointing out, what may be exceptionally strange about Jada Pinkett Smith’s behavior in this video is that she in no way appears to react to her husband in any personal or intimate kind of exchange. Will slaps Chris; Will sits down; Chris says he got the “Sh*t slapped” out of him; Jada chuckles; then Jada sits motionless as a statute as Will screams twice from his seat – and still sits motionless afterward. The actress doesn’t appear to attempt to calm or comfort her husband – or even take him aside, away from the cameras, to process and regroup. 

Again, we have to be careful about context, here. The Smiths are both veteran Hollywood stars; their awareness of watching eyes and cameras is unlike most other human beings on the planet. That’s all to say: Jada could’ve been waiting for a commercial break other some other opportunity to get Will alone and address the situation. 

We know that there was some level of intervention after Will Smith’s violent outburst; the actor revealed in his Oscar speech for Best Actor that Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry indeed took him aside during a commercial break and calmed him down. No doubt we have yet to hear the full story of what Jada did. 

Based on Jada Pinkett Smith’s only public statement since the Oscars, it seems like we’ll probably have to wait for a future episode of her Red Table Talk show to get those answers.