Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars Set the Internet on Fire

There was a lot of debate and discussion about the ability of the Academy Awards to get people excited about the annual Oscars telecast. No one will be talking about that after Sunday night’s show. Will Smith and Chris Rock are now at the center of what will likely be remembered as the most talked-about moment in Academy Awards history, somehow even crazier than the wrong Best Picture being presented back in 2017.

Chris Rock came out to present the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature and made a few jokes about the celebrities sitting in front of the stage, which is to be expected. However, when Rock took aim at Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, the King Richard star and Oscar nominee walked onto the stage and hit Rock in the face. 

Upon realizing that the exchange wasn’t a bit, thanks to some words between the two after Smith sat back down, all of social media collectively melted down. We’ve never seen anything quite like this on live TV, and to say everyone watching has had trouble processing it would be an understatement.

You can take a look at just a small sample of the tweets about the incident below.

Speed Force

Unexplored Territory

Lupita

Wildest Moments

The CHIN

Two Choices

View on X

No More

A Whole Documentary

What Happened

Press Pause