Serena Williams Looks Shocked After Will Smith Smacks Chris Rock at the Oscars

When Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars on Sunday night, everyone at the show was shocked, including tennis superstar Serena Williams. The 40-year-old went to her Instagram Story to react to the slap. In one video, Williams is seen speechless with her mouth open, and in another video, Williams says: “I just sat down, because I was like, I gotta put that drink down.”

Smith slapped Rock on national television due to a joke that was targeted at Jada Pinkett Smith. While Rock, 57, was presenting the Oscar for Best Documentary, he joked about Pinkett Smith’s hair. That led to Smith, 53, going to the stage and attacking Rock before going back to his seat. Smith then yelled at Rock, saying, “Keep my wife’s name out your f—ing mouth!” 

When Smith said that, Rock stated, “Wow, dude, it was a G.I. Jane joke.” Smith replied once again, “Keep my wife’s name out your f—ing mouth!” Rock said he would and went on to present the award. Smith did this shortly before he won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in King Richard. The film tells the story of Richard Williams coaching his daughters Serena and Venus Williams to be tennis legends. 

“I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people,” Smith said during his acceptance speech, per Time Magazine. “And to be a river to my people. And I know to do what we do, you’ve got to be able to take abuse, and you’ve got be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you’ve got to be able to have people disrespecting you and you’ve got to smile and pretend like that’s okay.”  

Following the incident, the Academy released a statement about Smith’s slap. The statement read: “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.” Smith won his first Oscar on Sunday night after being nominated three times. The big winner of the night was the film Dune as it won six Oscars including Best Orignal Score, Best Sound and Best Flim Editing.