Los Angeles Police Department has confirmed that comedian Chris Rock has refused to file a police report after the altercation with Academy Award winner Will Smith. Smith, who later won the Best Category Actor award, went up to the stage and slapped Chris Rock after the comedian joked about his wife Jada Penkett Smith. LAPD released a statement which read, “LAPD investigative entities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards programme. The incident involved one individual slapping another.” While referring to Chris Rock, it continued, “The individual involved has declined to file a police report. If the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available on investigative report.”
When presenting the award for best documentary feature, Rock made a joke regarding Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head by comparing it with the look of Demi Moore’s character in G.I. Jane(1997). He said he cannot wait to see Jada who is suffering from alopecia, a medical condition which involves the loss of hair, play the protagonist in “G.I. Jane 2” which triggered Smith to go up on stage and attack Rock. As Will Smith returned to his seat, he shouted, “Keep my wife’sname out of your f*****g mouth!” But later Smith made an apology during his acceptance speech as he couldn’t hold back his tears, saying, “I want to apologise to the Academy. I want to apologise to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying for winning an award. Its’ about being able to shine a light on all of the people.”
Between the slap and award win, Smith met Denzel Washington who gave him an advice, stating, “At your highest moment, be careful, that’s when the devil comes for you.”
Jada Smith revealed in 2021 that she is suffering from alopecia and hence shaved her head. She was not happy when Rock made a joke on her, she rolled her eyes. On Instagram, she wrote last year, “Now at this point, I can only laugh….y’all know I’ve been struggling with alopecia…Mama’s gonna have to take it down to the scalp so nobody thinks she got brain surgery or something. Me and this alopecia are going to be friends…period!”