Los Angeles, March 30 (FN Agency) Will Smith’s punch at Chris Rock is sure to go down as one of the most memorable Oscar moments and will certainly not be forgotten any time soon being as it is a great potential topic of many upcoming memes and gifs. As for people’s reaction on the slap, it was one and the same, that of awe and surprise being as unexpected as it was with the statement being no less true for late night show host Jimmy Kimmel. Going full on Conan’O Brien on Monday night, the show host spared no expense on digging deep into that one moment which may just have defined the 94th Academy Awards. “It was a big night last night,” declared the late-night host at the top of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, showing a clip of the moment when the Oscar winning actor for his performance in ‘King Richard’ stormed onstage to smack Chris Rock after the actor-comedian made a joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith getting ready to shoot a G.I. Jane sequel — a reference to Demi Moore’s film where she had cropped her hair as well as a reference to Jada’s shaved head (the actress has been open about her hair loss due to alopecia) — and slapped Rock in the face.
“It’s now a part of our life forever, we will never stop talking about this,” said the former Oscars host. “It was so shocking. The only thing I can really compare it to is when Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield’s ears. Even Kanye was like, ‘you went on stage and did what at the award show?’.” Kimmel went on to recall the “weirdest part,” noting that initially, Smith laughed at the joke. “But then he must have looked over and saw that Jada was not amused and is like, ‘uh oh, I better do something.” At that moment in the telecast, Smith proceeded to yell: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***mouth!” to a visibly shaken Rock, who took a moment to recover before presenting the best documentary award. “Boy did he do something,” commented Kimmel. “In one stunning moment, the guy went from #Oscarssowhat to #Oscarssowhaaaat?!?!?! No one could have predicted the most controversial movie of 2022 would be G.I. Jane, but it was. This was the Hollywood version of your drunk uncle starting a fight, ruining the wedding and then standing up and giving a long toast to the bride and groom.”
Kimmel went on to explain that he and his wife, when watching the live event unfold, initially thought Smith’s slap was fake, but then realized it was real. He said “I said to my wife, ‘They did a really good job with that punch, it looked so real,’” Kimmel said on Monday night. “About three seconds later, we realized it was because it was real.” Kimmel, also praised Rock for handling the punch like a champ. He noted that the comedian took the hit, ad-libbed a line then introduced the Best Documentary category “as if he hadn’t just been slapped by the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” “[Rock] handled it about as well as you could possibly handle being slapped on stage at the Oscars. He didn’t even flinch when Will slapped him,” Kimmel said. “I would’ve been crying so hard.” When friends asked Kimmel what he would’ve done had he been on stage, he said, “I would’ve run.” “The second I saw Will Smith get up out of the seat I’d have been half way to the Wetzel’s Pretzels, enjoying the samples in front of the store,” Kimmel added.