WILL SMITH SLAPS, SWEARS AT CHRIS ROCK During LIVE OSCAR BROADCAST.

By Chandrayee Roy Choudhury, Canada: Dune with six trophies out of 10 nominations, awarding CODA in the best-picture and two other categories for which it was nominated, making history for deaf, women and LGBTQ+ actors — and nearly breaking down following a chaotic, violent moment between Will Smith and Chris Rock. 

The night was a triumph for Canadian Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic Dune, and a return to form for a beleaguered show struggling to reignite the relevancy and spark it once had, until the shocking moment between Smith and Rock left the audience in stunned silence and viewers at home bewildered and wondering how much of what they were seeing was real. 
As Rock was presenting the award for best documentary feature, he tossed an offhand joke to Smith's wife, actor Jada Pinkett Smith, pointing to her and saying, "G.I. Jane 2, can't wait to see it."
        Striding purposefully onto the stage, Smith slapped Rock before returning to his seat. The live broadcast cut the audio while Smith screamed to Rock that he should, "Keep my wife's name out of your f–king mouth."
        The incident between Smith and Rock shocked the Dolby Theatre audience in Los Angeles and viewers at home.

Before that, the show had been running fairly smoothly.