When Will Smith picked up his Oscar on Sunday, it felt as if he was at the pinnacle of his career, despite his on-stage assault of the comedian Chris Rock an hour earlier.
Amid a standing ovation, Smith tearfully explained his actions as those of a man seeking to protect his family from abuse – Rock had referred to his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s baldness, even though she had recently made public a diagnosis of alopecia.
