It's the "Slap Heard Around The World." At last night's Academy Awards, presenter Chris Rock was stunned when, then, Best Actor Nominee Will Smith didn't take kindly to a joke the comedian made about Smith's wife's Jada Pinkett Smith's hair, "Jada, I love ya. G.I. Jane 2, can't wait to see ya."

Recently, Jada has been opening up about her alopecia, an auto immune disorder which causes hair loss, leaving her to roll her eyes at the playful dig. For a moment, you can even see Will laughing in the audience. Moments later, Smith walks calmly onstage, open hand smacks Rock, who took the hit in stride, as Smith just as calmly walks back to his seat. The comedian replied with, "Wow. Will Smith just smacked the sh*t out of me." Smith then shouted, "Keep my wife's name out of your f*cking mouth." Rock replied, "Wow, dude, it was a G.I. Jane joke." To which Smith said the same expletive toward the comedian. The show awkwardly went on with Rock keeping his cool about the ordeal.

According to People, celebrity reactions to the event were just as interesting. Bradley Cooper was seen consoling Smith with a friendly hand on the shoulder and a big hug, while Tyler Perry and Denzel Washington also took time to talk with the eventual Best Actor winner. During his acceptance speech for King Richard, Smith revealed the advice Washington gave to him after the incident, "At your highest moment, be careful, that's when the devil comes for you."

After the show, comedian Tiffany Haddish told People, "When I saw a Black man stand up for his wife. That meant so much to me. As a woman, who has been unprotected, for someone to say, 'Keep my wife's name out your mouth, leave my wife alone,' that's what your husband is supposed to do, right? Protect you. And that meant the world to me. And maybe the world might not like how it went down, but for me, it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen because it made me believe that there are still men out there that love and care about their women, their wives."

She continued, "Would you do that for your wife? Would you say, 'Keep my wife's name out your mother f---ing...' Like, yes! Yes!" Haddish goes on to confirm a friendship between Smith and Rock, condoning Rock's handling of the joke, "Why would you do that? He didn't even run the joke by her, but she was hurt though."

"If she wouldn't have been hurt, [Will] probably wouldn't have said nothing. But you could see he was clearly... And they exploited it. They exploited her, so 'I have to do something'... He protected his wife." She ended with, "Will is fine."

Maybe Smith let the situation get the better of him and a public altercation might not have been the best way to handle it. Maybe Rock should have been more considerate to his friend's wife by running the joke past her first, and completely misconstrued how far he went. But who knows what will shake out of this whole ordeal in the next few days. Enstarz will keep you posted as this story unfolds further.

Tags
Will Smith, Chris rock, Academy Awards, Denzel Washington, Tyler Perry, Tiffany Haddish, Bradley Cooper