A YouGov poll shows a vast majority of Americans do not support actor Will Smith violently assaulting comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars on Sunday night.
Interviewing 1,319 U.S. adults on March 28, the poll showed three in five Americans believe Will Smith was wrong to assault Chris Rock.
“Ehile most Americans did not watch the 2022 Academy Awards the night before, a majority now say they’ve heard a lot (56 percent) or a little (33 percent) about Smith hitting Rock,” said YouGov. “Around three in five Americans (61 percent) say Smith’s actions were wrong, while 21 percent say they were right.”
Perhaps tellingly, older Americans were far more likely than young Americans to denounce Smith’s actions. The polling also showed that 59 percent of Americans agreed “it is not ever OK to hit someone for something they said,” with about “three in five adults agreeing “Will Smith’s actions were not acceptable.”
Will Smith and Chris Rock are seen onstage during the 94th Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on March 27, 2022 in Hollywood, California. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)
On the question of whether or not the Academy handled the situation properly by allowing Will Smith to stay and accept the award for Best Actor, 39 percent of those surveyed disapproved versus 34 percent.
The Academy Awards fell dead silent on Sunday night when Will Smith suddenly stormed the stage and publicly slapped comedian Chris Rock for cracking a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s short haircut.
“Keep my wife’s name out your fucking mouth,” Will Smith shouted at a visibly surprised Rock after walking back to his seat.
***LANGUAGE WARNING***
Full video/audio of Will Smith vs. Chris Rock. (NSFW language obviously.) #Oscars pic.twitter.com/k7pX27lI3J
— Adam Silverstein (@SilversteinAdam) March 28, 2022
Will Smith stayed for the remainder of the evening and even accepted the award for Best Actor, during which he appeared to condone his behavior by saying “love will make you do crazy things” and how he was channeling his character Richard Williams by defending his family.
Smith did attended the Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty and danced the night away.
After the slap comes the after party 🎶 Will Smith spotted grooving and having the time of his life shortly after giving Chris Rock a very dirty slap. 👋🏼
How many celebrities can you spot in the above video? #Oscars #TheOscars pic.twitter.com/2udkOFsH88
— Y! Online (@YNaija) March 28, 2022
On Monday, after the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) denounced the actor’s behavior along with the Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG), Will Smith issued an apology on Instagram:
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