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With only about an hour to go before his dream of winning an Oscar seemed all but guaranteed to come true, Will Smith did something that he’ll surely regret for the rest of his life. Chris Rock took the stage to present the award for best documentary feature. Presenters usually have some brief pre-written material to deliver before they list the nominees. Rock started by teasing husband and wife Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, who were both nominated for lead actor and actress respectively. Then the stand-up comedian went off-script and turned his attention to Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, who sat in the front row near the center. The offending punchline was, “Jada, I love ya. ‘G.I Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it.”
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Smith appeared to laugh at first, as if being a good sport about it. His wife rolled her eyes, to which Rock responded, “That was a nice one,” in defense of the joke. A moment later, Smith stood, walked onstage toward Rock, and slapped him with his open right hand across the face. Smith returned to his seat, where he looked decidedly more upset than he’d been only a few seconds before, and shouted, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth.” Rock, who’d said “Uh-oh” as Smith approached him, took a beat to compose himself, then said into the cameras, “That was, uh, greatest night in the history of television.”
