The entire world was stunned when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock after making a joke at the expense of Jada Pinkett Smith at the Oscars.
However, some online theories suggest that the now infamous moment was caused by the curse of the Scottish play.
According to folklore, via the Royal Shakespeare Company, the tragedy was cursed from the very beginning, when a coven of witches opposed Shakespeare's use of real sorcery in the text.
As an old superstition says, one must never utter the name of the Shakespeare character in a theatre, except to perform or rehearse a line from the play.
Instead, the monarch must be referred to as “the Scottish king” or “the Scottish lord,” and the work itself as “the Scottish play," - otherwise, disaster follows.
And, the 94th Academy Awards certainly experienced disaster when Will Smith stormed the stage to assault Chris Rock after making a G.I Jane joke regarding Jada's autoimmune condition alopecia.
Eagle-eyed viewers noticed that this moment soon came after the comedian mentioned Macbeth, when praising Denzel Washington's performance in the Shakespearean drama.
Rock called out on stage: "Denzel! Macbeth! Loved it!”
Viewers soon took to Twitter and expressed that the 57-year-old brought the assault on himself after not being aware of the curse.
“To be fair, Chris Rock put a hex on himself by saying ‘Macbeth’ in a theater,” one wrote.
“Keep… Macbeth’s name… out of your F***ING mouth,” another tweeted.
“Very obsessed with this take that Chris set himself up for failure by saying ‘Macbeth’ out loud,” one commented.
“I actually love the idea that Will Smith was simply acting out karmic consequences for saying Macbeth in the theater,” another mused. “The only take I’ll be validating.”
The Macbeth curse lore goes back to the very first performance of the Shakespearean play in around 1606 when the actor playing Lady Macbeth died suddenly, so Shakespeare himself had to take on the part.
Other rumoured mishaps include real daggers being used in place of stage props for the murder of King Duncan, resulting in the death of the actor.
Back in 1849, the audience at one performance in New York City broke into a violent riot which killed at least 20 people and injured over 100.
In 1937, Laurence Olivier was playing the monarch when a weight somehow came loose and fell to the stage, crashing within inches of him.
In 1953, when Charlton Heston was performing the role, his tights literally caught fire, badly burning him.
Do you think Chris Rock jinxed himself with the curse? Let us know in the comments.
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