Tipsheet

Could the LAPD Slap Will Smith with Assault Charges After Causing Total Mayhem at the Oscars?

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  March 28, 2022 6:00 AM

You simply cannot make this up. You can’t. The memes are going to be gold from this incident. If the writers of Saturday Night Live aren’t drafting a sketch about this, it’s comedic malpractice. Granted, SNL hasn’t been consistently funny in a long time. This must be done. I’d tune in to watch that sketch. If I had known Will Smith was going to slap the taste out of Chris Rock’s mouth, I would have watched last night’s Academy Awards. As some noted, all it takes is a little celebrity Fight Club to get people’s attention again regarding awards shows. Ratings for these events have been circling the toilet for years. 

It’s the meeting of the wealthiest, most privileged, and out-of-touch individuals on the planet. I will still watch their movies, however. I just don’t need to watch their ‘woke’ lectures when they get awards. Also, it’s March Madness. The Final Four have been selected. There are other, more important things going on; I can see who won in IMDB later. Yet, the slap was the event of the night. Comedian Chris Rock made a joke about Will Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett regarding her bald head. Pinkett suffers from alopecia. Smith walked onto the stage and slapped Rock who continued with his bit the best he could. Was it staged? I don’t think so. 

The two were supposedly going to bury the hatchet last night (via Page Six):

Page Six has exclusively learned that Will Smith and Chris Rock are expected to work out their issues after the now-infamous slap at an event after the awards show.

Both are expected to attend the annual Vanity Fair Oscars bash, but it’s unclear if they’ll make amends before or during that soirée. But party sources tell us that moments after Smith “smacked the s–t” out of Rock, security immediately started strategizing because Smith had 20-plus attendees in his party.

Sources at the Academy Awards also told us after the slap seen ’round the world that everyone backstage “thought it was a joke and not real.”

Sean “Diddy” Combs, who took the stage after the incident, had to pivot his speech and “went back up to lift the room.” We’re also told Diddy talked to both Smith and Rock who agreed to make amends later in the evening.

Smith later won the Oscar for Best Actor. I mean, again—you cannot make this up. We’ll see if this peace summit occurred. We’ll also know if Smith is going to be slapped with assault charges. The Los Angeles Police Department signaled that they might investigate this incident. Either way, it was the one joke that sent this night into total chaos. 

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UPDATE: It looks like Rock isn't going to press charges, but the LAPD leaves the door open. Also, no one at any police station in the city saw this happening.