Judo Chump: Will Smith smacks Chris Rock, aftershocks felt throughout Twitterverse

Despite every year turning into a garbage fire of reactions for multiple reasons, this year’s Oscar ceremony provided some tame surprises along with a…

By: Victor Rodriguez | 1 year ago
Judo Chump: Will Smith smacks Chris Rock, aftershocks felt throughout Twitterverse
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Despite every year turning into a garbage fire of reactions for multiple reasons, this year’s Oscar ceremony provided some tame surprises along with a major one. Even though award ceremonies can drag and be chock full of self-aggrandizing and deluded characters, the pageantry and celebration of the arts is still a major draw for a lot of viewers.

And sometimes things Spiral out of control, where live television manages to throw something at you that you would never CB4.

At this year’s Academy Awards, things got awkward in a hurry when comedian Chris Rock made a joke at the expense of Jada Pinkett-Smith. The actress and singer has suffered from an autoimmune disorder that has led to alopecia, causing her hair loss. Initially taking things in stride and laughing along, her husband Will Smith saw the discomfort this caused his wife, stormed the stage, and laid the 209 special across Rock’s face.

After returning to his wife’s side, Smith had plenty to say. As is the nature of live events, the language utilized was censored. Rock’s reaction was also censored on the live feed.

But don’t worry. The entire exchange was caught in 4K for posterity, and we’ll even give you the uncensored version here:

First we’ll address what was missing here, and that’s literacy regarding body language from Rock. Smith walks heavily towards him with the usual walk he does in movies when he’s angry or broody, lots of shoulder movement. The language of violence isn’t something he may be entirely unfamiliar with, he could have very well realized that Smith fully intended to commit some kind of act and not just get in his face.

Yet perhaps Rock didn’t think Smith would go so far as to lay hands on him. And much like a church service, hands were laid and spirits were moved.

At first it seems Chris thought he could laugh it all off and that he’d just take a brief admonishment:

Hi, I’m Academy Award nominee Will Smith.

Then Smith stops and stares him down, where Rock must’ve wondered what was next.

Smith uncorks a lightning right hand across Rock’s mouth:

What did the five fingers… say to the face?

And that single strike – which was no doubt aided by his physical conditioning and training for his role in Ali – had Rock standing there like the fancy dude on the Pinaud package:

Same energy

Smith gets bonus points for keeping his left hand up and near enough to his chin, look at this beauty:

You can feel Chris’ face tingling

Smith then walked his way back to his seat having neutralized Rock. You may disagree on whether or not Smith was correct to do what he did, but some of us at least understand. Especially those of us that are parents.

Smith got enough rotation and generated enough force to slightly rattle Rock while making that smack loud as hell. Rock was clearly stunned and in disbelief that the man that bragged about how he goes platinum without using profanity treating him the way he did them poor people in that hallway. Damn shame what he did to those folks:

There’s plenty of backstory here as well, which we won’t get into here. Sometimes jokes are just jokes, but poking fun at someone’s illness on an international stage may find you catching a serving of hands, and Rock was lucky to only have one helping of it. Charges will not be pressed as Rock will continue to go through life after this incident.

And since people love to come out here and complain that there’s no real connection to MMA with posts like these, lemme head you off at the pass so you can go on about shutting up with that business:

Also, the rest of the MMA world took notice immediately.

Despite not much being out there in terms of his technique and finesse, that’s not to say people didn’t have their fun with it.

Finally, we’ll leave with some words from an oracle of the past:

If you’re not gonna watch your mouth, at the very least keep your hands up.

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About the author
Victor Rodriguez
Victor Rodriguez

Victor Rodriguez has been a writer and podcaster for Bloody Elbow since 2015. He started his way as a lowly commenter and moderator to become the miscreant he is now. He often does weekly bits on fringe martial arts items across the globe, oddball street combat pieces, previews, analysis, and some behind-the-scenes support. He has trained in wrestling, Karate, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and the occasional Muay Thai and Judo lesson here and there. Victor has also been involved with acting and audio editing projects. He lives in Pennsylvania where he plays way too many video games and is an S-rank dad.

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