Will Smith’s physical attack on Chris Rock during this year’s Oscars ceremony came as a shock to many. However, the altercation wasn’t entirely out of the blue: Rock and Smith actually have a bitter history dating back to 2016.

While hosting the 2016 edition of the awards, Rock took a jab at Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith during his opening monologue. Prior to the ceremony, Pinkett Smith announced that she would be “boycotting” the Academy Awards because Smith wasn’t nominated for his performance in the film Concussion.

Referencing the snub, Rock said: “Isn’t she on a TV show?”

“Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties… I wasn’t invited.” He added: “You get mad. It’s not fair that Will was this good and didn’t get nominated. It’s also not fair that Will was paid $20 million for Wild Wild West.”

While the comment may have seemed relatively light-hearted, the 2016 Oscars received much criticism for having all 20 acting nominations being given to white actors only. The controversial ceremony ignited the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite and brought attention to prejudice that’s commonly associated with the awards.

Following Rock’s quip about Pinkett-Smith at the 2016 awards, Smith was asked for a comment on the matter but he refused to answer.

The tension between Smith and Rock escalated after Smith posted a photo of his ex-wife Sheree Zampino and wished her a happy birthday. “Happy Bday, @shereezampino. #BestBabyMamaEver! 🙂 I Love You, Ree-Ree,” Smith captioned a photo of Zampino and their son Trey. “Wow. You have a very understanding wife,” Rock wrote on the photo and the comment went viral shortly after.

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Although Smith chose to take the high road and didn’t respond to Rock’s jibe at the time, it seems that Rock’s thinly veiled jab aimed at Pinkett-Smith during tonight’s Oscars was the last straw.
During his appearance on stage at the event, Chris Rock joked about Pinkett Smith’s well-publicised battle with alopecia, quipping that he “couldn’t wait” to see the sequel of G.I Jane, seemingly referencing her hair loss.

While the cameras showed Smith laughing about the joke, Pinkett Smith could be seen in the background rolling her eyes and looking unhappy.

The camera then panned back to Rock and he continued his monologue. Seconds later, Rock pauses to say, “Uh oh” and confused sounds can be heard coming from the crowd.

Smith then walked straight up to the host in the middle of the stage and hit him in the face. Rock was left almost speechless in surprise, and repeated the words “Wow”, as Smith headed back to his seat.

Once back in his seat Smith continued his tirade, yelling “Get my wife’s name out of your mouth” a number of times to a very stunned crowd. While some broadcasts managed to silence Smith’s outburst once he arrived back to his seat, multiple countries were still able to hear the entire incident.

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