Will Smith was seen being consoled by fellow celebrity attendees of the Academy Awards after the actor hit Chris Rock on stage at the ceremony.
Denzel Washington, Tyler Perry and Bradley Cooper spoke to a visibly emotional Smith after the shocking incident.
While presenting the award for Best Documentary, Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, the actor Jada Pinkett Smith.
“Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see you,” said Rock, in an apparent reference to Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head.
Pinkett Smith stated last year that she shaved her head after struggling with alopecia.
After Rock’s joke, Smith walked on stage and appeared to strike the comedian, before returning to his seat.
Smith was then heard yelling: “Keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth.”
The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg shared a video of Smith being consoled by Washington and Perry, reporting that they had motioned for him to “brush it off”.
Photographs of Smith embracing Cooper also surfaced during the ceremony, during a non-televised interval between awards.
In his tearful acceptance speech after winning the award for Best Actor, Smith revealed exactly what Washington had said to him during the break.
Following the incident, a joke Rock made about Pinkett Smith at the 2016 Oscars resurfaced online.
Earlier in the ceremony, Regina Hall – who was hosting the ceremony alongside Schumer and Wanda Sykes – poked fun at Smith and Pinkett Smith’s marriage.
Dune and Coda were the evening’s big winners, with the latter winning all three nominations it was up for, including Best Picture.
Find the full list of Oscar 2022 winners list here.
