The Academy Releases Statement After Will Smith – Chris Rock Incident At Oscars

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences released a statement after last night’s Oscars, stating they don’t “condone violence of any form” after Best Actor winner Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage in response to a joke Rock made about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

“The Academy does not condone violence of any form.

Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.”

The Academy does not condone violence of any form.

Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 28, 2022

As reported earlier, Rock opted to not press charges against Smith after the slap. Had he filed a police report, Smith could have faced up to six months in prison.

The 94th Academy Awards got real awkward early in its third hour on Sunday, as Best Actor nominee Will Smith marched on stage and hit Chris Rock for making a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith. The 2022 Oscars telecast hit the bump when Rock, out to present the award for Best Documentary, threw out a couple of jokes including one directed to Pinkett-Smith, who he said he “looked forward to…in G.I. Jane 2.”

Hearing the joke, Smith initially laughed while Pinkett-Smith rolled her eyes, but Smith then calmly walked on the stage up to Rock and took a swing at him. As Rock reacted and said, “Will Smith just smaked the s**t out of me,” the Best Actor nominee turned around and casually walked back to his seat before shouting (censored by the telecast) “Keep my wife’s name out of your f**king mouth” and repeated it when Rock expressed, “It was a G.I. Jane joke.”

Pinkett-Smith has spoken in the past about the personal difficulties she’s had dealing with having alopecia, a disease that causes hair loss. The situation blew over after that and P. Diddy, who came out after the Best Documentary award for a scheduled moment, made a joke about having the two settle it later to ease the mood.

You can see the moment (uncensored due to being the Japanese airing) below:

VIA JAPANESE TELEVISION: The uncensored exchange between Will Smith and Chris Rock pic.twitter.com/j0Z184ZyXa

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) March 28, 2022

Smith took the stage after winning Best Actor and delivered an emotional speech in which he apologized for hitting Chris Rock earlier in the evening. Smith won Best Actor for his role as Richard Williams in King Richard, and he took the stage to comment on his win and apologized to the Academy and his fellow nominees.

Smith got emotional during his speech, noting pointedly that “Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family” and added, “I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world.”

Smith went on to say that Denzel Washington, who had diffused the situation earlier, had told him then, “At your highest moment, be careful, that’s when the devil comes to you.” He apologized to the Academy and nominees before thanking the team and cast behind the movie, then added, “Art imitates life: I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things.”