The Oscars are always searching for a viral moment, and in 2022 they found it with a vengeance. When Will Smith mounted the stage to attack presenter Chris Rock, it was apparently motivated by Rock’s joke at his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s expense: “Jada, GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see it.”
Rock’s joke referenced the 1997 war film in which Demi Moore, playing a navy lieutenant signing up for a reconnaissance, famously shaves her head into a close crop. In 2021 Pinkett Smith posted a video on Instagram in which she revealed her closely shaven style, writing “Mama’s gonna have to take it down to the scalp … Me and this alopecia are going to be friends … period!”
