Comedian Chris Rock‘s joke about Will Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s baldness during the Oscars 2022 did not go down well with the ‘King Richard‘ actor, who stepped up on stage and slapped the former, warning him to “Keep [his] wife’s name out of your f—–g mouth.” 

Moments later, Will Smith had to once again get onto the stage, this time for receiving the Best Actor award for his performance in the movie ‘King Richard.’ During the acceptance speech, the actor apologised to the Academy and fellow nominees, saying, “Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things.”

Following the incident, the Los Angeles Police Department issued a statement saying that Rock had declined to file a police report against Smith.

“LAPD investigative entities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program. The incident involved one individual slapping another. The individual involved has declined to file a police report. If the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report,” LAPD said. 

Though Sunday’s incident has become the talk of the town, not many know that Will Smith, Jada Pinkett, and Chris Rock have actually known each for long. 

Rock did a cameo in the 1995 movie ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ alongside Smith. The two got only well during the shooting and remained friends. They were spotted together at several social gatherings. In 1999, Smith, Jade, and Rock were seen enjoying some time together on several occasions, including the MTV Music Awards.

Jade and Rock then worked together on several movies in the ‘Madagascar’ series. 

In an interview during the promotions of Madagascar 3, Rock spoke about how his daughters were big fans of Jade and Smith’s daughter Willow.

During the Oscars in 2016, Rock, who was the host, made fun of Jade’s decision to not attend the show over the lack of Black nominees.