LOS ANGELES — It's a moment that's already been pored over like the Zapruder film, looked at from various feeds and angles and accounts: Will Smith slapping Chris Rock in the face Sunday night onstage at the Academy Awards.
The nightclub-style seating in this year's stage design may have been created with social distancing in mind, but it also put Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, within easy striking distance when Rock made a joke at Pinkett Smith's expense.
Remarking that he was looking forward to seeing Pinkett Smith's closely cropped hair in a sequel to "G.I. Jane," Rock apparently did not take into account that she has been increasingly open about suffering from alopecia-related hair loss. Smith took to the stage, struck Rock with a open palm, returned to his seat and said loudly, "keep my wife's name out of your f— mouth."
