Stars React to Will Smith Striking Chris Rock After His 2022 Oscars Joke About Jada

In shock. After Will Smith struck Chris Rock over a joke he made about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, at the 2022 Oscars, several celebrities have taken to Twitter to react to the onstage altercation.

Daily Show host Trevor Noah wrote, “Wtaf????? That wasn’t scripted?????”

“I’m getting under my couch,” comedian Billy Eichner wrote.

Late-night host Conan O’Brien made the joke referencing the end of his TBS show, writing, “Just saw the Will Smith slap. Anyone have a late night show I can borrow just for tomorrow?”

However, director Judd Apatow publicly spoke out against what happened, tweeting of Will’s slap, “He could have killed him. That’s pure out of control rage and violence. They’ve heard a million jokes about them in the last three decades. They are not freshman in the world of Hollywood and comedy. He lost his mind.”

Sophia Bush also spoke out against the violence but also commented on Chris’ joke, writing on Twitter, “Violence isn’t ok. Assault is never the answer. Also? This is the 2nd time that Chris has made fun of Jada on the #Oscars stage, & tonight he went after her alopecia.

“Punching down at someone’s auto-immune disease is wrong,” she added. “Doing so on purpose is cruel. They both need a breather.”

Meanwhile, cohost of the evening’s festivities, Amy Schumer, addressed the incident on air, saying, ““I’ve been getting out of my Spider-Man costume, did I miss anything?”

During the telecast, Chris made a joke about Jada playing G.I Jane, seemingly referencing her alopecia diagnosis, which she opened up about in 2018. In an uncensored video of the moment that has since been shared online, Will walked on stage and hit the stand-up performer.

“Will Smith just smacked the s–t out of me,” Chris responded afterward. Once Will had walked back to his seat, he yelled at the comedian, “Keep my wife’s name out your f–king mouth.”

Chris replied, “Wow, dude. It was a G.I. Jane joke.”

The comedian also joked about Jada when he hosted the Oscars in 2016. “Jada Pinkett Smith boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties — I wasn’t invited!” he said at the time. Jada later said that kind of joke “comes with the territory.”

Will, Jada, Chris and the Academy Awards reps did not immediately respond to In Touch‘s request for comment.

“We don’t have any details about the incident. As soon as we do, we will make them available to the public,” an LAPD spokesperson told Variety of the incident.