Judd Apatow has claimed Will Smith ‘could have killed’ Chris Rock when he slapped him on stage at the Oscars after Chris made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.
Hollywood star Will, 53, slapped the stand-up comedian in the face after Chris, 57, jokingly compared Jada’s haircut to G.I. Jane. Will’s wife Jada suffers from alopecia.
The shocking incident has no doubt become the most talked about moment of the 94th Academy Awards, with many calling for Will to be stripped of his Best Actor award.
Criticism: Judd Apatow has claimed Will Smith ‘could have killed’ Chris Rock when he slapped him on stage at the Oscars after Chris made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith
Addressing the conflict, comedian Judd, 54, slammed Will in a now-deleted tweet and said that he ‘could have killed’ Chris, describing his actions as ‘pure out of control rage’.
He penned: ‘He could have killed him. That’s pure out of control rage and violence. They’ve heard a million jokes about them in the last three decades.
‘They are not freshmen in the world of Hollywood and comedy. He lost his mind.’
At the Oscars, Will had stormed on to the stage and slapped presenter Chris for making a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s haircut.
Conflict: Hollywood star Will, 53, slapped the stand-up comedian in the face after Chris, 57, jokingly compared Jada’s haircut to G.I. Jane. Will’s wife Jada suffers from alopecia
After Will strode out on stage and slapped Chris with an open right hand, the comedian staggered and exclaimed ‘wow, Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me.’
Will, visibly emotional, walked back to his seat in the audience and shouted: ‘Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth.’
The exchange was muted on a delayed telecast in much of the US, but was aired in full to some international audiences.
Will was still allowed to make his acceptance speech as he won Best Actor and, with tears streaming down his face, he appeared to defend hitting Chris because he said he wanted to protect his family.
Hitting out: Addressing the conflict, comedian Judd, 54, slammed Will in a now-deleted tweet and said that he ‘could have killed’ Chris, describing his actions as ‘pure out of control rage’
‘Love makes you do crazy things’, the rapper admitted as he accepted his Best Actor Oscar statuette.
He added that being a Hollywood star means you should be able to ‘have people disrespecting you and that ‘you just gotta smile and pretend it’s ok,’ he said.
But he added that he admired Richard Williams who ‘was a fierce defender of his family.’
‘I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people,’ he explained.
Will went on to issue a tearful partial apology for his emotional outburst, but did not apologize to Chris.
Fun times: Will appeared to be having an excellent time not long after the controversy at the post-Oscars party
Could Will Smith be stripped of his Oscar? The Academy faces pressure to respond after the King Richard star broke the Academy’s Code of Conduct drawn up during Me Too Movement
‘I want to apologize to the Academy, I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment,’ he said.
‘Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father.’
Late on Sunday, the LAPD issued a statement saying that Chris had not filed a police report against Will, but that if he chooses to do so, police will investigate.
Following the incident, Will appeared to be in good spirits as he went to the Vanity Fair Oscars party, where he danced, rapped to his hits and posed with his award.
Happy: Will Smith appeared to be in excellent spirits as he cheered and danced the night away at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party
Speaking at the party, an NBC reporter claimed Chris and Will would have ‘some sort of public make-up’ or ‘reconciliation’ at the post-Oscars bash following the physical altercation.
And rapper P Diddy earlier offered to mediate between Chris and Will, as he said that the conflict would be solved but that they would ‘move on with love’ for the time being.
At the star-studded party, Will told the Hollywood Reporter ‘it’s been a beautiful night’ as he did not shy away from celebrating after the controversy.
It comes after calls for him to be stripped of his Oscar accolade, with the Academy, in its code of conduct, is known to take a very a dim view of violence of any kind.
Partying: The Hollywood star, 53, did not appear to have a care in the world as he was seen grinning and dancing with his Oscar award
After the award ceremony was over it tweeted: ‘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 reestablished its Code of Conduct in 2017 during the Me Too Movement.
‘Academy membership is a privilege offered to only a select few within the global community of filmmakers,’ AMPAS CEO Dawn Hudson wrote to members following various scandals in the industry.
Will won Best Actor for his portrayal of Richard Williams, the determined father who raised tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams, in King Richard.
OSCARS 2022: WINNERS
BEST PICTURE
Belfast (Focus Features)
Coda (Apple) – WINNER
Don’t Look Up (Netflix)
Drive My Car (Janus Films/Sideshow)
Dune (Warner Bros)
King Richard (Warner Bros)
Licorice Pizza (MGM/United Artists Releasing)
Nightmare Alley (Searchlight Pictures)
The Power Of The Dog (Netflix)
West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
History: Coda became the first ever streaming film to win Best Picture as it upset The Power Of The Dog
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose – West Side Story – WINNER
Judi Dench – Belfast
Kirsten Dunst- The Power Of The Dog
Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Ciaran Hinds – Belfast
Troy Kotsur – Coda – WINNER
Jesse Plemons – The Power Of The Dog
J.K Simmons – Being The Ricardos
Kodi Smitt-McPhee – The Power Of The Dog
Amazing: Troy Kotsur became the first male actor to win an Oscar for Coda
COSTUME DESIGN
Cruella (Jenny Beavan) – WINNER
Cyrano (Massimo Cantini Parrini)
Dune (Jacqueline West)
Nightmare Alley (Luis Sequeira)
West Side Story (Paul Tazewell)
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND
Belfast
Dune – WINNER
No Time To Die
The Power Of The Dog
West Side Story
ORIGINAL SCORE
Don’t Look Up (Nicholas Britell)
Dune (Hans Zimmer) – WINNER
Encanto (Germaine Franco)
Parallel Mothers (Alberto Iglesias)
The Power of the Dog (Jonny Greenwood)
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
CODA (Sian Heder) – WINNER
Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi & Takamasa Oe)
Dune (Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts & Denis Villeneuve)
The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal)
The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion)
Shining moment: Sian Heder earned Best Adapted screenplay for the film as it went three for three on the night
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Belfast (Kenneth Branagh) – WINNER
Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay & David Sirota)
Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson)
King Richard (Zach Baylin)
The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt)
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Affairs Of The Heart
Bestia
Box Ballet
Robin Robin
The Windshield Wiper – WINNER
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Ala Kachuu — Take and Run
The Dress
The Long Goodbye – WINNER
On My Mind
Please Hold
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Drive My Car – WINNER
Flee
The Hand of God
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
The Worst Person in the World
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Dune (Zsuzsanna Sipos & Patrice Vermette) – WINNER
Nightmare Alley (Tamara Deverell & Shane Vieau)
The Power of the Dog (Grant Major & Amber Richards)
The Tragedy of Macbeth (Stefan Dechant & Nancy Haigh)
West Side Story (Rena DeAngelo & Adam Stockhausen)
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Javier Bardem – Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield – tick, tick… BOOM!
Will Smith – King Richard – WINNER
Denzel Washington – The Tragedy of Macbeth
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye – WINNER
Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter
Penélope Cruz – Parallel Mothers
Nicole Kidman – Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart – Spencer
All eyes on her: Jessica Chastain finally won her first Best Actress trophy for her titular role in The Eyes Of Tammy Faye
DIRECTING
Kenneth Branagh – Belfast
Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza
Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog – WINNER
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi – Drive My Car
Steven Spielberg – West Side Story
FILM EDITING
Don’t Look Up (Hank Corwin)
Dune (Joe Walker) – WINNER
King Richard (Pamela Martin)
The Power of the Dog (Peter Sciberras)
Tick, Tick… Boom! (Myron Kerstein & Andrew Weisblum)
MAKEUP AND HAIR STYLING
Coming 2 America
Cruella
Dune
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye – WINNER
House Of Gucci
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Encanto – WINNER
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells VS The Machine
Raya And The Lost Dragon
ORIGINAL SONG
Be Alive — Beyoncé Knowles-Carter & Darius Scott (King Richard)
Dos Oruguitas — Lin-Manuel Miranda (Encanto)
Down to Joy — Van Morrison (Belfast)
No Time to Die — Billie Eilish & Finneas O’Connell (No Time to Die) – WINNER
Somehow You Do— Diane Warren (Four Good Days)
Not a bad guy: Billie Eilish and brother FINNEAS earned Best Original Song for No Time To Die from the James Bond film of the same name
DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Audible
Lead Me Home
The Queen of Basketball – WINNER
Three Songs for Benazir
When We Were Bullies
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Ascension
Attica
Flee
Summer of Soul (Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) – WINNER
Writing with Fire
VISUAL EFFECTS
Dune – WINNER
Free Guy
No Time To Die
Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Epic: Dune swept the technical awards as Greig Fraser is shown accepting the Best Cinematography gong
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Dune (Greig Fraser) – WINNER
Nightmare Alley (Dan Lausten)
The Power of the Dog (Ari Wegner)
The Tragedy of Macbeth (Bruno Delbonnel)
West Side Story (Janusz Kaminski)
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