Reactions of outrage after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock

After the stupefaction effect of Sunday night in Hollywood, the slap that Oscar-winning superstar Will Smith gave American comedian Chris Rock on the Oscars 2022 stage provoked mostly outrageous reactions on Monday.

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It was a joke by Chris Rock about the shaved head of Jada Pinkett Smith, the wife of Will Smith who suffered from alopecia - a disease that causes severe hair loss - that triggered the scandal. Will Smith then goes on stage and slaps him. "Don't speak my wife's name with your damn mouth!"

The strongest condemnation came from American actor and director Judd Apatow in a tweet that he later deleted, but which comedian Mia Farrow took up again: Will Smith “could have killed him. He just lost control of his anger and his violence (…) he lost his mind”.

Mia Farrow herself, more consensual, defended comedian Chris Rock, who made "just a joke, as he knows how to do."

San Francisco Golden State Warriors star basketball player Stephen Curry also said he was "still in shock, just like everyone else."

The athlete paid tribute to Denzel Washington who, on Sunday night at the Oscars, comforted Will Smith by saying: "In your most intense moments, be careful, that's when the devil comes!"

“Stand-up comedians are masters at dealing with disruptors. But not so much physical violence … ”, Mark Hamill, famous for his role as Luke Skywalker in“ Star Wars ”, reacted on his part.

For the British writer Bernardine Evaristo, whose father is Nigerian, Will Smith missed the opportunity to set an example, especially for African-Americans: when he is "only the fifth black man in almost 100 years to win an Oscar for a leading role and the first in 16 years, resorts to violence instead of using the power of words to defeat Chris Rock, "he denounced on Twitter.

"And then he invokes God and love that would have made him do this," she criticized even more.

In fact, Will Smith apologized on Sunday - to the Academy Awards, but not to Chris Rock - saying, through tears, that "love makes you do crazy things", while he condemned "people who disrespect you”.

But director Rob Reiner questioned the sincerity of the actor's apology, noting that it wasn't directed at Chris Rock himself. Will Smith can consider himself "lucky that Chris is not pressing assault charges," he writes.

Rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs assured Sunday after the ceremony that the two men had died with this blood stroke. "This is not a problem. It's over. I can confirm that," Diddy told gossip site Page Six.

"Everything is fine," Will Smith confirmed shortly after to Variety himself, while he attended a party with his wife and his children. The actor fled the Oscars press room after receiving the trophy from him.

The actor received the Oscar for best actor for "The Williams Method", where he plays Richard Williams, the father coach of the tennis champions Serena and Venus Williams, in whom he instills a series of moral values.

In the movie, the character even allows himself to be beaten up, without responding, by young thugs from a California suburb.

Some, however, threw their support behind Will Smith. Former One Direction singer Liam Payne reacted to reporters: "I think he did what he did, he had a right to do it."

Massachusetts Democrat-elect Ayanna Pressley, also suffering from alopecia, thanked him in a since-deleted tweet. "Congratulations to all the husbands who defend their wives with alopecia in the face of ignorance and everyday insults," she wrote.

Will Smith was also defended by actress Tiffany Haddish: 'That's what your husband is supposed to do, right? Protect you,” he told People magazine.

Some called on the Academy to withdraw its award, but actress Whoopi Goldberg, one of the administrators, said that would not be the case.

"There will be consequences, I'm sure, but I don't think that's what they're going to do, especially since Chris" Rock said he wouldn't press charges, she said.