Oscars organisers have issued a statement insisting they do not “condone violence of any form” following an incident between Will Smith and Chris Rock in this year’s live broadcast.
Chris was a guest presenter during the ceremony on Sunday night, where he made a joke about Will’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith, comparing her to “G.I. Jane”, presumably due to her buzzcut hairstyle.
Jada has previously spoken about her experiences with hair loss and said in the past this is what prompted her to shave her head.
The joke prompted an eye-roll from Jada, and after Chris continued presenting, Will then walked on stage, where he appeared to hit the comic, telling him to “leave my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth”.
After the broadcast ended, a statement from the Academy was posted on Twitter.
“The Academy does not condone violence of any form,” they said.
“Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.”
Shortly after the altercation, Will was announced as the recipient of the Best Actor category for his performance in King Richard, marking his first ever Oscar win.
During his acceptance speech, he apologised to the Academy and his fellow nominees.
“Thank you for this honour,” he said at the end of his speech. “Thank you for this moment, I thank you on behalf of the entire Williams family. I hope the Academy invites me back. Thank you.”
Meanwhile, the LAPD has said that Chris will not be pressing charges over the incident, while Will reportedly declined to speak to reporters in the winners room after receiving his Oscar.
The sci-fi epic Dune was the biggest winner at this year’s Oscars, while the coming-of-age drama Coda was awarded Best Picture.
Other individual winners included Ariana DeBose, Jessica Chastain, Jane Campion, Riz Ahmed and Sir Kenneth Branagh.
