WATCH: Tearful Will Smith Oscar speech after slapping Chris Rock
Superstar Will Smith is the talk of Tinseltown after slapping comedian Chris Rock for joking about his wife.
Smith, who won best actor for his work on "King Richard” slapped Rock on stage, before returning to his seat alongside his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and shouting profanities.
"Keep my wife's name out of your f*&king mouth," yelled Smith, forcing the producers to bleep out several seconds of audio from the televised broadcast in the United States.
Rock, presenting the best documentary prize, had compared Jada's tightly cropped hair to Demi Moore's appearance in the film "G.I. Jane." Jada suffers from alopecia, a condition causing hair loss.
The moment left stunned viewers questioning if it had been scripted or genuine.
But when he returned to the stage to accept his award, a tearful Smith lamented "people disrespecting you" in Hollywood, and apologized to the Academy "and all my fellow nominees."
Smith, who plays the father of tennis greats Serena and Venus Williams in "King Richard," added: "Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams."
Los Angeles police said they were aware of the incident but that Rock had not filed a police report. The Academy tweeted that it "does not condone violence of any form."
