Chris Rock may find himself in big trouble with Academy Award bosses after it was claimed his joke about Jada Pinkett Smith was reportedly unvetted before the Oscars.
Insiders say there was no reference to Will Smith or his wife at all during rehearsals.
The furious actor stormed the stage after the comedian poked fun at Jada Pinkett’s hair loss, with the audience stunned into silence as they witnessed the star smack Chris around the face.
The comic jokingly compared her haircut to G.I. Jane and Will saw red, sparking a violent outburst.
He returned to his seat and repeatedly screamed “Keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth!”.
The ugly exchanged created global headlines as the drama exploded on the stage of the 94th annual awards in Tinseltown on Sunday night.
Now source told Us Weekly that Chris initially rehearsed his speech with no mention of Jada, with scripts always studied by bosses.
The insider added: "Will was not in attendance for the rehearsal."
According to music superstar Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, the pair have already kissed and made up.
The 52-year-old star told PageSix: “That’s not a problem. That’s over. I can confirm that.”
He added: “It’s all love. They’re brothers.”
Jada has been open about her struggle with hair loss due to alopecia.
In December she posted a video on Instagram and pointed out a patch of baldness.
She said: "Now at this point, I can only laugh. Y'all know I've been struggling with alopecia and just all of a sudden one day, look at this line right here.
"Now this is going to be a little bit more difficult for me to hide, so I thought I'd just share it so y'all not asking any questions.
"But you know, mama's going to put some rhinestones in there, and I'm going to make me a little crown."
Will later won the Best Actor award for his portrayal of Richard Williams in King Richard.
During his acceptance speech, Will said: "Love makes you do crazy things."
But he could potentially be facing the possibility of being asked to hand his Oscar back, as the backlash over his violent outburst grows.
“I hope @TheAcademy chooses to revoke Will Smith's Oscar win. To show on national television that you can assault someone and still be awarded with no consequences is disgusting,” on tweeted.
“Honestly, revoke #WillSmiths Oscar and ban him from attending. I don't care how good you are at acting, doesn't give you the right to assault. #WillAndChris,” another viewer fired.
“Academy needs to issue a statement that the violence Will Smith engaged in on their stage is unacceptable and regrettable, and then they need to revoke his Oscar,” a third added.
