Just now, Chris Rock attempted to crack a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith while he presented for Best Documentary feature. He addressed Pinkett-Smith in the audience, saying “Jada, I love you, G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it? Alright!”. The comment brought out some laughs, and even Pinkett-Smith’s husband was seen laughing when the camera panned to the Smith couple. But on screen, those at home could see her on the right, rolling her eyes. The camera pans back to Rock, who spread his arms and laughed as the audience hesitatingly laughs a little louder with him. Rock was about to continue his announcement when he exclaims, “Uh oh!” in a joking manner, because Smith started to storm onto the stage.

Sounds of confusion emerged from the audience until Smith swung his arm at Rock and slaps him. The audio for those in the U.S. cut out for several seconds at the same time and we could only see Rock looking around with a shocked face. The shot switched back to Smith, who could be see mouthing, “Keep my wife’s name out of your ******* mouth.” The audio returned as Rock shakily stammers back to his previously planned announcement.

Pinkett-Smith had openly spoke in the past about having a hair loss condition called alopecia. Her annoyance at Rock’s joke was clear onscreen and her husband’s outburst was delayed from that moment. It was certainly an unexpected occurrence that happened tonight at the Academy Awards and will go down as another infamous moment in Oscar history.

Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith being in "G.I. Jane" because of her bald head. She's spoken openly about having a hair loss condition. Will Smith ran on stage, slapped Rock, then screamed twice at the top of his lungs "KEEP MY WIFE'S NAME OUT OF YOUR F-NG MOUTH."

— Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) March 28, 2022