The Slap

During the 2022 Oscars ceremony, Will Smith walked to the stage and slapped Chris Rock after he joked about Will's wife's bald head during his presentation of "Best Documentary Feature." During the commercial break, presenter Daniel Kaluuya and actors Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry went to Smith and offered their support. Jada revealed for the first time that Rock went up to her immediately after the slap, telling her that he didn’t mean any harm. After the show, the Academy said that it had attempted to remove Will from the audience and that it "does not condone violence of any form." However, later in an interview, Oscar's producer Will Packer said he was hoping that Smith "would go on stage and make it right."

Will later released a YouTube apology video directly to Chris, who chose not to press charges. Will resigned from the Academy, saying that he "betrayed its trust" and would accept "any further consequences." As a result of his "unacceptable and harmful" actions, he was ultimately banned from all events for a period of 10 years.