Although this seemed like every other Oscars, with hundreds of cameras and celebrities in fancy clothes , the normalcy broke when notable actor Chris Rock gave a brief comedy sketch around mid show. After a slightly offensive joke directed towards Jada Pinkett Smith, the wife of famous actor Will Smith, things took a notorious turn to violence as Smith slapped Rock live on air. 

All things were going well during the Oscars with multiple prominent actors and movies winning awards including Encanto for Best Animated Feature, Dune tallying six total awards, and the movie CODA for best picture. But when Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s lack of hair, unknowingly joking about her alopecia, Will Smith walked on stage and slapped Chris Rock across the face.

 “Wow,” Rock said. “Will Smith just slapped the (obscenity) out of me”.

Although the slap seems like an event that’s significant for a time but fades away in a week or so, it hasn’t been the case. The consequences of this slap will be seen for the next few Oscars and may even affect the careers of the people involved as well. After the slap, Will Smith won an Oscar as Best Actor for his role in King Richard, and now some are saying his award should be revoked and given to the runner-up. His agent also considered dropping him as well. 

As seen here, the consequences are far and wide and the public is wondering if the slap was justified on behalf of his wife or if it is an unnecessary act to a mostly harmless joke.

“I thought initially and still think that it was not justified, because even though it was to me not a great joke” said junior, Evan Smirnoff. “It did not deserve Will Smith coming up and slapping someone in the middle of a public event.”  

Though this happened, the award show still had to continue. Some *tamer* highlights of the night include Ariana DeBose for her supporting role in the movie West Side Story. For the male version of this award, Troy Kotsur won for his role in the multi-award winning film CODA. In one of the newer awards, International Feature Film, the steller Japanese film, Drive My Car, was named the winner. Other major awards include, Jane Campion for Best Director for her work in the movie The Power of the Dog and the Best Original Song going to esteemed artist Billie Eilish with “No Time To Die”. 

“I thought this year’s Oscars were much better than the ones in years past, not just in viewership but overall enjoyment.” said freshmen, Sammy Maphis. “Everyone who deserved their award got one, and it seemed more lively than any Oscars I have seen in a while”.