After the world bore witness to the remarkable moment Will Smith climbed up onto the stage at the 94th Academy Awards and slapped host Chris Rock in the face, it was difficult to know whether the actor would ever be able to show his face in Tinseltown again.
The events were initially met with disbelief, but by the time Smith, 53, had twice shouted “Keep my wife’s name out your f****** mouth”, the room had seemingly done away with any hunches that the slap might have been a skit.
Later in the evening, Smith was back on stage to accept the Oscar for Best Actor, where he tearfully apologised to the Academy for his actions and, the following day, issued an apology to Rock.
