It was the Oscars moment when everyone sucked in a collective breath.
King Richard star Will Smith took offence at one of presenter Chris Rock’s jokes about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith – and walked on stage to strike him across the face.
WATCH IN THE VIDEO ABOVE: The chaotic moment Will Smith charged to the stage
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Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, which did not appear to go over well with her husband Will Smith.
While presenting the award for best documentary, Chris joked, “Jada I love you, G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it.”
The camera cut to Jada, who rolled her eyes as she sat next to her husband.
“That was a nice one,” Chris said, appearing to respond to the joke not going over well.
Jada has been open about her struggle with alopecia, an autoimmune disorder that leads to hair loss.
Chris then said, “Oh uh,” and laughed as Will walked toward him on stage and appeared to strike Chris in the face.
“Oh wow,” Chris said. “Will Smith just smacked the sh*** out of me.”
He went on to say it was just a joke, but Will shouted twice after returning to his seat: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth!”
The theatre went silent and Chris said, “That was the greatest night in the history of television.”
Will looked genuinely angry, Chris genuinely shocked – and the whole room went totally quiet.
A clearly shaken Chris went on to present the award for best documentary feature to Summer of Soul (Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised).
Twitter immediately exploded, with viewers undecided if it was an unscripted moment or not.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs took to the stage later and said the pair would settle things “like family” later.
‘Hope the Academy invites me back’
After later winning the Best Actor for King Richard, Will took to the stage and said: “Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family” – no doubt a reference to Chris Rock’s jibe about his wife.
Will also apologises to the Academy and his fellow nominees although he does not mention Chris.
Watch Will Smith’s acceptance speech for Best Actor in the video below
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“I hope the Academy invites me back!”, he said at the end of his tearful acceptance speech.
According to Variety, Will’s publicist spoke to the actor at the commercial break and fellow actor Denzel Washington also had a word.
Last year, Jada announced her alopecia in an Instagram post.
“Y’all know I’ve been struggling with alopecia. Just all of a sudden, one day…it just showed up like that,” she wrote.
“Mama’s gonna have to take it down to the scalp so nobody thinks she got brain surgery or something.
“Me and this alopecia are going to be friends … period!”
It’s not known at this stage if Chris is likely to press charges against the Best Actor Oscar winner.
But if he does, NBC reports that police would launch a misdemeanour battery investigation.
Watch the Oscars live on Channel 7 and on 7plus.
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