This year’s Oscars took place in Los Angeles and was hosted by Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes. “This year the Academy hired three women to host because it was cheaper than hiring one man,” Schumer joked in their opening segment.
Dune received the most awards (6 from 10 nominations), while Apple TV’s Coda became the first streaming film to win the award for best picture. Coda (which stands for Children of Deaf Adults) is about a teenager who is the only hearing member of a deaf family; the movie has been praised for its representation and casting of deaf actors.
Stars of the movie include Marlee Matlin, who became the first deaf Oscar winner in 1987, and Troy Kotsur, who became the second on Sunday when he won best supporting actor. Kotsur dedicated his Oscar to “the deaf community, the Coda community and the disabled community”, adding: “This is our moment.”
But the most memorable moment of the night was undeniably when Will Smith walked on stage and slapped Chris Rock in the face after the latter made a joke about the former’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
The comedian said “Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see you” in reference to her shaved hairdo. The joke refers to the film GI Jane (1997), in which Demi Moore played the lead role with a buzzcut. Jada has previously discussed her struggles with hair loss, which is the result of a condition called alopecia.
After smacking Rock and returning to his seat, Will shouted: “Keep my wife’s name out of your [expletive] mouth.” Rock looked stunned immediately after as he exclaimed: “Wow. Will Smith just smacked the [expletive] out of me”, but he went on: “That was the greatest night in the history of television” he told the audience.
Smith took to the stage again later in the night — this time to pick up his award for best actor for playing the father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams in King Richard.
“I want to apologise to the Academy. I want to apologise to all my fellow nominees,” he said during a tearful acceptance speech — notably, he did not mention the comedian. “I hope the academy invites me back” he concluded.
This was Smith’s first-ever Oscar, so it was a milestone moment in his career. But still, we imagine that this year’s Oscars go down in history —not as the first time Will Smith won an Oscar, but for the time that Smith smacked Rock.
