Oscars: Biggest Controversies Of The Academy Awards

  Oscars: Biggest Controversies Of The Academy Awards

The Oscars 2022 has been making news since morning. The reason: Will Smith slapping Chris Rock on stage. 

Here are some of the other highly controversial moments from the Academy Awards that have happened over the years. 

Actor Will Smith going on stage at the Oscars 2022 and slapping actor-comedian Chris Rock has been trending all over social media. Smith went on to win the Best Actor in a leading role soon after the incident.

 The Academy has also released a statement stating that they don’t condone violence in any form, and that has led to people speculating that maybe Will Smith’s Best Actor award might get taken away.

For the unreversed, here’s what happened: Chris Rock took to the stage in order to present an award for the Best Documentary Feature. Soon enough, the comedian made a joke about actress Jada Pinkett Smith. He said, "Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see you." 

This was a reference to the 1997 film GI Jane where actress Demi Moore sported a similar bald hairstyle, which Pinkett Smith is sporting currently. This dig by Chris Rock didn’t go down well with Pinkett Smith’s husband Will Smith, who in response to the joke, took to the stage and punched Chris Rock.

 Not just that, after returning to his seat, Will Smith continued to cuss Chris Rock, and he shouted, "Keep my wife’s name out your f*****g mouth (sic)." The entire auditorium just saw the incident in stunned silence wondering whether it was real or just a prank planned by Will Smith and Chris Rock.

The outburst of Will Smith can be credited to the fact that Jada Pinkett Smith suffers from a condition called Alopecia Areata. It causes hair to fall out in patches and at times more than that in quantity. 

 Alopecia Areata often develops suddenly, over the course of just a few days. However, there is no cure for alopecia. In 2018, Jada Pinkett Smith had first revealed her condition while she was speaking on Red Label Talks. 

She said then said that the condition "was terrifying" to deal with. She had even appeared with a shaved head on social media back in July 2021, and that picture had taken everyone by surprise. 

But, soon enough, she received a lot of praise from all corners for accepting and taking the condition head-on.

Over the years, the Academy Awards have had its fair share of controversies, and the latest incident of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock seems to have brought back memories of all such controversies at the prestigious awards night.