Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock Leads to Wild Reactions From Sports Stars

Will Smith was the talk of the 2022 Oscars and not just because he won the award for Best Actor. The King Richard star slapped Chris Rock during the show. Smith was angry about the joke Rock made about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. When Smith slapped Rock, the thought was a skit was happening. However, when Smith yelled at Rock twice, the venue got silent. 

This happened 45 minutes before Smith earned the first Oscar of his career. He apologized to the Academy for the incident, but the Academy could punish the 53-year-old actor. “The Academy condemns the actions of Mr. Smith at last night’s show,” a statement read. “We have officially started a formal review around the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct and California law.”

After being criticized for earlier referencing the scandal in a coy way, Oscar producer Will Packer tweeted: “Black people have a defiant spirit of laughter when it comes to dealing with pain because there has been so much of it. I don’t feel the need to elucidate that for you. But I also don’t mind being transparent and say that this was a very painful moment for me. On many levels.” Here’s a look at sports stars reacting to Smith slapping Rock. 

Stephen A. Smith

One fan responded: “He’ll be fine. You’re totally over exaggerating. I salute Will for standing up for his wife. Sure it wasn’t necessary but like he said… stand and protect his family. And why are you defending Chris Rock for being disrespectful? Where I’m from you know the rules of respect.”

Deion Sanders

Another fan resonded: “Damn Will Smith just punked out 4 real. Never watch another one of his shows. Regardless you ahow respect to those watching, its above you man!” 

Lamar Jackson

One fan said: “We all knew Will would snap one day… apparently it would be on live TV. He loves him some Jada…Will only got mad when he saw his wife’s reaction- she looked so hurt. She’s really struggling with her diagnosis…Chris should’ve known better, didn’t he do the movie ‘Good Hair’?”

Stephen Curry

One fan responded: “It’s funny… A lot of people talking about how another man should feel/handle a person HE felt disrespected HIS wife in front of thousands of people.” 

Kendrick Perkins

One Twitter user wrote: “Everybody talking about he should’ve handled it afterwards. What? She was disrespected in front of thousands so he handled it in front of thousands tf? Bet no one gonna say anything now.”

Rudy Gay

One fan wondered: “I’m wondering why I have to turn to Japan and Australia who showed the whole thing unedited while the US gets the cut out and censored version.”

Charles Woodson

And this fan responded: “For a movie whose message is more or less hold your head high and be a better person regardless.”