The slap may be new, but the beef between Will Smith and Chris Rock is a bit old.
At the 94th Annual Academy Awards, Rock cracked a joke at Jada Pinkett-Smith’s bald head, likening her to G.I. Jane.
Pinkett-Smith suffers from alopecia, an auto-immune disease that caused her to lose hair so much that she just decided to shave her head.
She said so in an Instagram video in 2021, and fans appreciated her candor and how she took it in stride.
Many feel Chris Rock’s joke was in bad taste, even if Will Smith’s reaction was a bit unwarranted.
This is not the first time Rock has mocked Pinkett-Smith as he did so when she publically boycotted the 2016 Oscars as well, because of a lack of nominations for people of color.
At the time, Will Smith also did not receive a nomination for his critically appreciated movie, “Concussion.”
Rock presented the Oscars in 2016 and dissed Pinkett-Smith, asking the audience “Isn’t she on a TV show?”
He carried on, to "white audience" laughter, "Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited.”