Oscars 2022: Before Chris Rock, Will Smith Once Slapped Reporter For This Bizarre Reason

Unlike any other award night, Oscars 2022 has added itself to the list of most talked-about award ceremonies as the entertainment night at the 94th Academy Awards was eclipsed by Will Smith slapping Chris Rock, a slapgate that will echo in the history of Oscars forever. However, this wasn’t Smith’s first outburst in public.

Earlier in 2012, when Will Smith appeared for the Men In Black 3 premiere in Moscow, he was interacting with his fans on the red carpet. Just then, a Ukrainian prankster named Vitalii Sediuk tried to kiss the actor. Realising this, Smith pushed Vitalii away, saying, “What the hell is your problem?" and smacked him with the back of his hand. However, Smith later described the incident as “just awkward." Sometime later, when Smith graced David Letterman’s talk show with his appearance, the Hollywood actor explained why he did what he did and said that he didn’t beat up the person. Smith said that the prankster said to him, “’I’m your biggest fan, can I have a hug?’ So I go to give this joker a hug, and he tries to lean in and kiss me!"

Despite being slapped by Smith, the prankster didn’t learn his lessons as he even tried pulling off the same stunt on other celebrities too. Hollywood star Brad Pitt even got a restraining order against him. Take a look at the video of Will Smith slapping the reporter in Moscow here:

For those who don’t know, the audience of Oscars 2022 witnessed an unscripted on-stage altercation, as Will Smith went up on the stage and slapped Chris Rock over a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. This happened after the comedian joked about Smith’s wife Jada’s medical condition and said, “Javier Bardem and his wife are both nominated. Now, if she loses, he can’t win. He is praying that Will Smith wins, like, please, lord. Jada, I love you. ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it, all right?" Listening to Rock making fun of his wife’s medical condition, Smith couldn’t take the joke lightly and went up on the stage and smacked him.

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