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Will Smith struck Chris Rock after the latter cracked a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith (Will Smith’s wife) at the 94th Academy Awards on March 27. The wild turn of events at the Oscars was only magnified as mere moments later, the videos of the slap went viral on social media.
The Guardian's video of the event became so popular that it eventually dethroned MrBeast’s YouTube record.
MrBeast's globally known video, inspired by Netflix’s Squid Games, held a record for amassing 43 million views within 24 hours. But The Guardian’s video of the slap accumulated a whopping 59 million views in a day.
The most significant point to note here is that the video is still trending, with 67 million views. More importantly, it is one of the many videos of unexpected events circulating online.
Why did Will Smith slap Chris Rock?
The Academy Awards ceremony has always featured jokes from the hosts and award presenters, often at the expense of those in Hollywood. But things took a turn for the worse when Chris Rock, while presenting the award for Best Documentary Feature, took a jab at Pinkett Smith’s baldness by referring to the 1997 film G.I. Jane, in which Demi Moore shaved her head.
Rock said:
“Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see you."
This did not sit well with Smith. He walked up to the stage and slapped Rock. The chaos and awkwardness of the moment overshadowed the award that Rock presented to the documentary Summer of Soul (... Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) and the remaining awards, including Smith’s award for Best Actor. Smith won his first Oscar for playing Richard Williams in King Richard.
In his acceptance speech, overcome with emotions, Smith emphasized that he wanted to protect his family before apologizing to the Academy and his fellow nominees. Per reports from several publications, Chris Rock decided not to press charges, and Will Smith released a public apology to Rock the day after the awards.
But it was too late. The incident has already gained global attention almost as quickly as it happened. Not only were the videos of the slap heavily circulated on social media, images of the incident provided ample fodder for memes to last a few days.
MrBeast’s YouTube channel, which has a massive subscriber count of 92.5 million, earned a record number of views in 2021 when he created a real-life version of Squid Games. However, The Guardian’s video didn’t earn the title of the most-watched video in a single day since the viewership count does not consider the numbers from music videos, trailers, and promotional videos released simultaneously.
Irrespective of any YouTube records, the incident’s video became much-watched content. Further, the incident also sparked much online discourse about the limits of humor and what was considered toxic masculinity. On a night when historic victories should have been front and center, the slap became the most talked about thing at this year’s Oscars.
