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Will Smith SLAMMED for justifying slapping Chris Rock in Oscars speech: 'Cancelled in my book'

'Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, but love will make you do crazy things,' Smith said during his acceptance speech

The 2022 Oscars took place on Sunday, March 27, and saw a host of celebrities attend the dazzling annual event. But this year's Academy Awards took a controversial turn when actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock during the ceremony.

The incident took place before the announcement of the winner of the Best Documentary Feature. Rock cracked a joke about Will's wife and actress, Jada Pinkett-Smith's 'GI Jane' haircut. Jada has struggled with hair loss since her diagnosis with alopecia in 2018. Offended by the joke, Smith walked on stage and slapped Rock. Staggering and shocked, Rock said, "Wow, Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me." Smith walked back to his seat and shouted, "Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth."

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Despite being taken aback, Rock resumed his job and joked, "That was the greatest night in the history of television." The shocking incident didn't just end here. Smith, who won the Best Actor award for King Richards, went on to defend his violent act during the acceptance speech. "Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family. In this time in my life, in this moment I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world," Smith began his speech.

"I'm being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people. 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 gotta be able to have people disrespecting you. And you gotta smile and you gotta pretend like that's okay," he added. "Denzel said to me a few minutes ago, 'At you highest moment, be careful; that's when the devil comes for you.' It's like I wanna be a vessel for love," Smith continued.

He further said, "I wanna apologize to the Academy, I wanna apologize to all my fellow nominees. Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, but love will make you do crazy things." Twitter users were not impressed by Smith's attempt to defend his violent act and were quick to call him out for this. One tweet read, "If Will Smith wants to talk about God and the Devil during his acceptance speech, he should probably confess it was wrong to slap Chris Rock over a joke and should have turned the other cheek. That would show he is a bigger man than he showed earlier tonight. #Oscars."

Another said, "Let us be clear he apologized to the academy he never apologized to Chris Rock. And he blamed 'the devil' Every survivor of domestic abuse heard their abusers voice in Will Smith's acceptance speech. Violence is never acceptable. #Oscars2022." A third wrote, "In his Oscar acceptance speech, Will Smith tried to make himself a hero for being offended by a joke and becoming violently angry, by trying to make a joke about becoming violently angry. Not ok. So not ok. #Oscars."

One user commented, "Will Smith just said 'Love will make you do crazy things' during his acceptance award. How many boys and men are going to use this now to justify assaulting women? Or other men? This is sick. #arrestwillsmith," another felt, "I'm mad AF! #WillSmith should be ashamed of himself! He didn't even have the decency to apologize to #ChrisRock. He should win an #Oscar for the performance he gave giving that acceptance speech! #Cancelled in my book!"

A third tweeted, "Where is Chris Rock? Is he still backstage? Was kind of hoping he would come out with a folding chair and hit Will Smith during the acceptance speech." A fourth said, "Will Smith's acceptance speech was one of the biggest loads of hypocritical bullshit I have ever seen on live TV. That he was permitted by the Academy to personally accept the award and give this speech is #embarrassing." Meanwhile, Chris Rock has declined to file a police report against Will Smith, confirmed the Los Angeles Police Department.