The Range has been criticised by shoppers for making light of Will Smith's Oscars attack. The incident, in which the Men In Black star waltzed up onto the stage and hit Chris Rock in the face, has become the most talked-about event of the star-studded ceremony.
It came after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, Will's wife, and made a direct reference to her hairdo. Chris had told Jada, who suffers from alopecia, that he was excited to see her in GI Jane 2, referencing the famous shaved head Demi Moore donned in the film.
Red Table Talk host Pinkett Smith has previously spoken about her struggles with the condition and said it is what prompted her to shave her head. A-list onlookers and those watching around the world were left stunned with the incident, which retailer The Range has decided to use as the basis of a social media post.
READ MORE: Will Smith posts for first time after attacking Chris Rock at Oscars
Using a photo of the stars as the basis of a meme, it says: "Them: You best not buy anything else for the house," followed by 'me' and then the image of the pair to indicate them being assaulted for suggesting it.
Followers were not impressed and asked the retailer to remove the post, something it did within an hour of it going public. "Honestly, you making out like this is OK just because he's a celebrity is so so wrong," said Olivia Denham.
Others agreed, including Nic Nic, who said: "I'm disappointed that The Range thinks it is acceptable to make any kind of meme out of this incident. You are clearly condoning violence by even writing this post."
And Dawn Foster, who added: "What is it you're condoning here? Assault or domestic violence? Not quite sure, either way this is in very poor taste!"
"The Range needs to take this down," said Gerardina Johnston. "Promoting domestic violence is not acceptable." The post has now been removed from the social media page, but it's not stopped other businesses from making their own jokes.
Both Pizza Express and Archie's have shared the photo with Archie's accompanying the image with 'that one friend that still likes McDonald's' and Pizza Express making up its own lyrics to the tune of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
Its post, which has also been criticised for being in 'poor taste' reads: "Now this is the story all about how, pal went and flipped things upside down. When he leaned across the table, looked me straight in my face, and went and stole a golden, fluffy Dough Ball straight off my plate."
Jada appeared to roll her eyes at Rock's comment but was said to be visibly upset. However, Smith was soon seen walking up on stage and appeared to hit Rock in the face in front of the star-studded audience at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
He then returned to his seat before shouting twice: "Keep my wife’s name out of your f****** mouth," as a flustered and clearly stunned Rock tried to resume presenting the best documentary feature category.
The gobsmacking incident came just minutes before Smith picked up an award at the ceremony. After being named best actor for his performance as the father of tennis star Serena Williams and her sister Venus in King Richard, Smith used his acceptance speech to apologise to the Academy and 'all my fellow nominees' – but not Rock.
On Monday afternoon the star posted about the incident for the first time and appeared to be laughing off the controversy. Sharing a video captioned: ""Me 'n @jadapinkettsmith got all dressed up to choose chaos" he said: "You can't invite people from Philly or Baltimore nowhere!!"
The Academy has since issued a statement, posted on Twitter, which read: "The Academy does not condone violence of any form. Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world."
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said no report had yet been filed with the force following the altercation. "LAPD investigative entities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards programme," a spokesperson for the force told the PA news agency.
"The incident involved one individual slapping another. The individual involved has declined to file a police report. If the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report."
A spokesperson from The Range said: “Earlier today, our social media team shared a Will Smith Oscars meme which has since been deleted.
"With hindsight, we became aware that the post could be misconstrued and we would never want our brand to be associated with supporting any kind of violence. We apologise for any hurt caused, which was of course unintentional on our part.”
