A slap at Oscars heard around the world

WASHINGTON: It was a slap that reverberated around the world, ringing up questions on comedic red lines and black violence among other issues. A global audience of millions watched on live tv on Sunday actor Will Smith slap Oscar ceremony host Chris

Rock

on stage after the comedian made a joke about the hair loss Smith's wife Jada Pinkett

Smith

suffers from.

The incident occurred during a monologue when Rock greeted Smith's wife, saying, “Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait.” It was a reference to Smith's shaved head, caused by a 2018 diagnosis of alopecia, a medical condition that causes severe hair loss. G.I Jane was a 1997 movie in which heroine Demi Moore famously shaved her head.

Smith initially laughed at the joke, but his wife glowered and rolled her eyes, following which Smith strode up the stage and slapped Rock across the face.

As a stunned Rock blurted, "Oh wow! Will Smith has just smacked the sh*t out of me," many in the audience thought it was a staged incident. But the seriousness of the episode became evident when Smith returned to his seat and twice shouted, "Keep my wife's name out of your f**king mouth."

The exchange was bleeped out in the delayed Oscar broadcast in the United States but was heard around the world in more than 100 countries where the Academy Award are telecast live. In the hours after the incident, opinion remained divided on what was the more egregious act: Chris Rock joking about a medical condition, or Smith's public display of anger.

Smith apologised to the Academy and his fellow nominees for his assault (but not to Chris Rock), when he went on to win the Best Actor award for King Richard, a movie on the protective father of tennis star sisters Venus and

Serena Williams

.

"Love makes you do crazy things," he sobbed in his speech, referring to his admiration for Richard Williams, and admitting, "Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father."

"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, complaining 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."

Late Sunday night, the Los Angeles Police Department issued a statement saying its investigative entities are aware of a slapping incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards and it would investigate if there is complaint.

Rock chose not to press charges. The Academy on its part also did not mention the actors' names in a statement that it "does not condone violence of any form".

While there was some public empathy for Smith's assault with focus on the purported provocation, most opinion seemed to weigh against the actor, particular given his image as a role model for black men.

"I’m tripping that you can assault someone on live television on stage at the Oscars and just take your seat and watch the rest of the show," said civil rights writer Nikole Sheri Hannah-Jones. Rock on the other hand won praise from his fans for keeping his composure.

There was also some gloating from the white constituency resentful of the movement to bring more diversity to the entertainment industry. "Remember when lefties and anti-whites were spewing #OscarsSoWhite? Well here's your effing black oscar ceremony that you wanted so bad, going exactly how everyone with a brain expected it to go," read one post on social media. "Apparently there was a Black on Black crime last night at the #Oscars and not one White Cop around to blame it on," sneered another.