Smith might not have taken the laughter of other people well.
He was smiling literally seconds beforehand as Rock joked about how Javier Bardem wouldn’t want to win on a night his wife, Penélope CruzIf that were the case, he would be Prayer Smith wins.
But when Rock then made his not particularly creative joke about Jada’s shaved head, she looked extremely unamused. Smith seemed to be kind of laughing. Rock said that Pinkett Smith was still laughing despite his death staring at him.
And then in the blink of an eye, Smith was approaching Rock—who was on stage to present Best Documentary—and slapping him.
It seemed at first that this was a fake. But witnesses made clear that there was enough tension to warrant a steak knife.
“Oh, wow! WOW. Will Smith just smacked the s–t out of me,” Rock said, according to VanityFair.com, as Smith walked away, looking not altogether furious. Rather, he had sort of a pleased, that’s-what-happens-when-you-screw-with-me kind of expression on his face. It’s almost A smile.