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Hollywood slammed for giving Will Smith STANDING OVATION despite Chris Rock assault

Online users are calling out Hollywood for giving Smith a standing ovation after his Best Actor win for 'King Richard'

Hollywood celebs at the Oscars are being slammed as hypocrites for giving a standing ovation to Will Smith for his Best Actor win for 'King Richard' minutes after he physically assaulted comedian Chris Rock on stage for making a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

Just after Rock was slapped by Smith on stage in front of many people at the highly esteemed Academy Awards, no one did anything. Many are angry that there was no moral outrage, no sense that a crime had just been committed on stage, and no explanation to the children watching on TV sets live around the world.

Viewers are also angry that instead of reacting to the assault as a criminal act, Hollywood celebs gave Smith a standing ovation and massive cheers just 43-minutes after the slapping incident.

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In the ad break following the assault, there seemed to be no official attempt to intervene or reprimand Smith. As Smith took to the stage after winning his Oscar to deliver a rambling and emotionally charged acceptance speech, he linked his behavior to his time playing the part of Venus and Serena Williams' father, Richard Williams, who he described as a "fierce defender of his family".

With tears in his eyes he said, "I know to do what we do you gotta be able to take abuse, you gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business you got to have people disrespecting you and you got to smile and pretend that's OK."

He then apologized to the Academy, and his fellow nominees, but crucially not to Rock, the man who he had hit. And despite just assaulting a man on live TV, Smith farcically suggested he wanted to become a 'vessel for love' and 'ambassador for love and care and concern'.

The internet is furious that Smith did not make any direct apology to Rock for the slap seen by millions around the world. People are now talking about the "warped morality" of Hollywood, wherein most of the celebs present simply forget about the assault that happened minutes ago and on top gave Smith a standing ovation.

Online users are also calling Smith a hypocrite for slapping a guy on stage and then minutes later giving a speech about being a 'vessel of love'.

One Twitter user tweeted, "Will Smith saying he wants to be a vessel for love fifteen minutes after hitting a guy live on international TV and then getting a standing ovation is just an incredible summation of what Hollywood’s all about." Another tweeted, "I'm still processing the fact everyone just sat through all of this with Will Smith and Chris Rock then continued to do so up to and including a standing ovation after his Oscar win speech. It's mind blowing."

"It says something about Hollywood’s warped moral compass that Will Smith got a standing ovation shortly after assaulting Oscars host Chris Rock," another viewer wrote. Another commented, "Only in America could an A Lister assault someone in front of the entire planet, on live TV, not get arrested, then win an award, then describe himself as a 'vessel of love', to a standing ovation."