Willard Carroll Smith II, born September 25, 1968, is an American actor and rapper better known by his stage name The Fresh Prince. He began his career on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as a fictionalized version of himself (1990–1996). Smith has received numerous honors for his work in film, television, and music, including an Academy Award and four Grammy Awards. His films have grossed over $9.3 billion globally as of 2022, making him one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars. Lets learn about will smith and chris rock in this article.
From 1984 to 1994, Smith rose to prominence as part of a hip hop duo with DJ Jazzy Jeff, with whom he released five studio albums and the US Billboard Hot 100 top 20 singles “Parents Just Don’t Understand”, “A Nightmare on My Street”, “Summertime”, “Ring My Bell”, and “Boom! Shake the Room”. Big Willie Style (1997), Willennium (1999), Born to Reign (2002), and Lost and Found (2005) were his solo albums, and they included the US number one singles “Getting’ Jiggy wit It” and “Wild West.” For his rap performances, he has received four Grammy Awards.
smith and chris rock to prominence as a leading man in films such as Bad Boys (1995), its sequels Bad Boys II (2003) and Bad Boys for Life (2020), and the science fiction comedies Men in Black (1997), Men in Black II (2002), and Men in Black 3 (2003). (2012). Following his roles in the thrillers Independence Day (1996) and Enemy of the State (1998), he received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor for his portrayal of Muhammad Ali in Ali (2001) and Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happiness (2001). (2006). He then went on to star in a number of commercially successful films, including I, Robot (2004), Shark Tale (2004), Hitch (2005), I Am Legend (2007), Hancock (2008), Seven Pounds (2008), Suicide Squad (2016), and Aladdin (2017). (2019).
Smith won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Richard Williams in the biographical sports drama King Richard (2021). Smith faced public backlash after slapping and shouting at Oscar presenter Chris Rock during the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony after Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Smith later resigned from the Academy and was barred from attending any Academy events, including the Oscars, for ten years.
According to Americans magazine, On February 7, 1965, Christopher Julius Rock was born. He is a stand-up comedian, actor, and filmmaker from the United States. He has received numerous honors for his work in comic film, television, and theatre, including three Grammy Awards for best comedy album, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award nomination. On Comedy Central’s list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time, Rock was ranked fifth. He was also ranked fifth on Rolling Stone’s list of the 50 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians of All Time.
Rock rose to prominence as a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1993, after years of working as a stand-up comedian and appearing in minor film roles such as Beverly Hills Cop II. He appeared in the films New Jack City, Boomerang, and CB4 while on SNL, which Rock also wrote and produced. Bring the Pain, the second of Rock’s five HBO comedy specials, launched him into mainstream stardom in 1996.
Bigger & Blacker (1999), Never Scared (2004), Kill the Messenger (2008), and Chris Rock: Tamborine (1999) are among his other HBO comedy specials (2018). Everybody Hates Chris (2005-2009), based on his early life, he created, wrote, produced, and narrated. The Chris Rock Show, which aired on HBO from 1997 to 2000, received critical acclaim for Rock’s interviews with celebrities and politicians.
Will Smith And Chris Rock Slapping incident
During comedian Chris Rock’s presentation for Best Documentary Feature at the 94th Academy Awards, actor Will Smith walked onstage and slapped Chris Rock across the face. Rock was slapped after making a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith‘s bald head, which she had been shaving since 2021 due to alopecia areata. Smith returned to his seat and yelled profanity at Rock, who responded briefly but continued his presentation without further interruption.
Later that evening, Smith won Best Actor and apologized in his acceptance speech to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and other nominees, but not to Rock. The next day, he apologized to Rock and the Academy on social media. Smith resigned from the Academy on April 1, facing suspension or expulsion, and was barred from attending Academy events for a 10-year period beginning April 8.
Due to federal censorship laws, live television broadcasts in the United States mostly muted the incident. Uncensored international footage, on the other hand, quickly went viral on social media, with an excerpt from the Australian broadcast becoming one of the most-viewed online videos in the first 24 hours. The incident overshadowed the rest of the ceremony and sparked international outrage, commentary, and debate.
After the ceremony, some publications recalled Rock’s past remarks about Jada Pinkett Smith. In 1997, he had commented on her participation in the Million Woman March in an interview on his late night-talk show, The Chris Rock Show, where Pinkett Smith appeared visibly upset by his jokes on black feminism.
Rock had previously hosted the awards twice, including in 2016, when several actors (including Pinkett Smith) boycotted the ceremony due to a lack of African-American nominees. In his opening monologue, Rock joked: “Jada’s boycott of the Oscars is related to my boycott of Rihanna’s pants. I had not been invited.”
Will Smith was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in the film King Richard on February 8, 2022. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Chris Rock as one of the 94th Academy Awards presenters on March 3, 2022.
Award Show’s Night
At the 94th Academy Awards, Rock announced the nominees for Best Documentary Feature, followed by a brief comedy monologue largely read from a teleprompter script. Rock made a joke about husband and wife Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, who both received comparable Oscar nominations at that ceremony. Smith and Pinkett Smith were seated near the front of the audience together. Rock then made an impromptu joke about Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, comparing it to Demi Moore’s dramatic appearance in the 1997 film G.I. Jane.
Smith and the majority of the audience laughed, while Pinkett Smith rolled her eyes in irritation. Rock was getting ready to continue his speech.
Smith strode across the stage, punched Rock in the face, then turned around and walked back to his seat as Rock continued to laugh. The audience was taken aback by the attack, which many mistook for staged comedy. Many people felt that Smith’s calm and positive public image had been undermined and jeopardized by the physical attack. Rock, who had previously been calm, looked startled as Smith yelled at Chris Rock from his seat.
This exchange demonstrated to the local audience and journalists that Smith’s rage was genuine. “Oh, that was real,” Kevin Costner said as he waited offstage to present the Academy Award for Best Director. Until Smith’s acceptance speech, the stunned and perplexed audience expected any official acknowledgement from the stage, and those in the mezzanine level occasionally stood to peer over the balcony for action below. The show, however, did not use hosts after this point and continued as usual. Many countries censored Smith’s expletives by muting the audio during the live broadcast.
Outcome
The Academy said in a statement on March 30 that Smith was asked to leave the ceremony but refused. Others in the room, however, denied that Will Smith was ever asked to leave, either directly or through a representative; a disagreement ensued between members of the academy’s leadership and ceremony producer Will Packer on whether Smith should be allowed to stay, and no action was taken. According to Variety, Packer “was the key to Smith staying in his seat.” Packer later told Good Morning America that he opposed suggestions to remove Smith from the theatre because he did not believe Rock would want it.
Smith was awarded Best Actor for his portrayal of Richard Williams in King Richard within forty minutes. He focused his emotional speech on divine justification and the need to protect those around him, and apologized to the Academy, the other nominees, and Venus and Serena Williams, who were present, but not to Rock. Smith compared himself to Williams, both in terms of their willingness to go to any length to protect their families and in becoming the “crazy dad” who distracted from others’ accomplishments.
Smith apologized for his five-minute speech, which was among the longest in Oscar history, but “no one was going to dare play him off,” according to Vulture. Smith got a standing ovation. The speech “had to make slapping Rock consistent with playing Richard Williams when the movie had actually been all about Richard Williams’ insistence on high standards of behavior and his heroically non-violent confrontation with hoodlums harassing his daughters,” according to Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian. The Economist called his acceptance speech, in which he pleaded to God to allow him to do “crazy things” for love, “dangerous, self-serving cant.”
Following the ceremony, award winners were instructed to only answer questions about their work. Officers from the LAPD met with Packer, who later recalled that they were prepared to arrest Smith on battery charges. Rock has consistently refused to press charges. Smith was filmed happily dancing to his hit song “Getting’ Jiggy wit It” at the Vanity Fair after-party around 1:00 a.m. Partygoer Michael Schulman wrote in The New Yorker, “In a Hollywood ending that seemed too dark and surreal to be true, Smith appeared to be having the time of his life.”
Dave Chappelle was performing stand-up comedy on May 4, 2022, when he was tackled onstage by an armed audience member. “Was that Will Smith?” Chris Rock joked as he joined him onstage.
Public Apologies
Smith issued an official apology on Instagram and Facebook in response to public outrage. He described his actions as “unacceptable” and “inexcusable,” addressing Rock directly: “I’d like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and incorrect. I’m embarrassed, and my actions did not reflect the man I want to be. Violence has no place in a world of love and kindness.” Three days after the incident, Rock briefly mentioned it at a comedy show for the first time, saying that he was still processing it but promised to talk about it later. He claimed that Smith had not contacted him or spoken to him since the ceremony. Fact checkers debunked claims on social media that Rock had issued an apology.
Smith addressed the incident and apologized to Rock, Rock’s mother, Rock’s brother Tony, Questlove, the other Oscar winners, and his wife Jada in a YouTube video on July 29, 2022, saying he was “deeply remorseful” for his actions.
Academy Reviews
“The Academy condemns Mr. Smith’s actions on last night’s show,” the Academy said in a statement.
“We have formally begun an investigation into the incident and will consider further action and consequences in accordance with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct, and California law.”
Celebrities from Hollywood and beyond reacted to Smith’s outburst with shock and stunned amazement, with some defending him and others condemning a display of “toxic masculinity.“
Smith was charged with “violations of the Academy’s Standards of Conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the Academy’s integrity” on March 30. “While we would like to clarify that Mr. Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognize that we could have handled the situation differently,” the academy said. Smith was given fifteen days to respond in writing, after which the Board of Governors would vote on whether “suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions under the Academy’s Standards of Conduct” would be imposed.
AMPAS should, at the very least, suspend his membership, according to numerous Academy members, citing the organization’s Standards of Conduct, which were implemented eight weeks after Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misdeeds were revealed. Prior to 2004, when its 42-member board of governors voted unanimously to expel actor Carmine Caridi for sharing promotional copies of films that were later mass-distributed, the Academy had never expelled a member. The Academy then expelled Harvey Weinstein, Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby, and cinematographer Adam Kimmel for sexual misconduct.
