Los Angeles (AFP) - It was supposed to be a celebration of Hollywood filmmaking, but Will Smith hitting Chris Rock over a joke about his wife provided the evening's most talked-about drama and a moment that will go down in Oscars history.
Celebrities from Tinseltown and beyond reacted with shock and stunned amazement to Smith's outburst, with some defending the best actor winner and others condemning his "toxic masculinity."
The 94th Academy Awards was in its final hour when actor and comedian Rock made a joke on stage about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, starring in "G.I.Jane 2" -- apparently poking fun at her shaved head.
Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia, didn't laugh and her 53-year-old husband stormed onstage, smacking Rock with an open hand before returning to his seat.
Smith tearfully apologized to his fellow nominees and the Academy -- but not Rock -- a few minutes later as he accepted the Oscar for best actor for "King Richard."
"Love will make you do crazy things," he said.He revealed that Denzel Washington had told him after the incident: "At your highest, that's when the devil comes for you."
The stunned expressions of celebrities in the room, including Nicole Kidman and Lupita Nyong'o, became instant meme fodder, while outside the auditorium stars immediately weighed in to condemn Smith.
"He could have killed him.That's pure out of control rage and violence," filmmaker Judd Apatow said in a tweet he later deleted.
"Spinal Tap" director Rob Reiner dismissed Smith's apology, calling for the star to show remorse to Rock personally and adding that the "Fresh Prince" star was "lucky Chris is not filing assault charges."
Actress Mia Farrow and British TV personality Piers Morgan both called it the Oscars' "ugliest moment."
"Stand-up comics are very adept at handling hecklers.Violent physical assault...not so much," "Star Wars" icon Mark Hamill chipped in.
'Narcissistic madman'
The comedy world was quick to rally to Rock's side, complaining that Smith's outburst could spark copycat behavior, endangering other stand-ups.
Emmy Award-winning Rosie O'Donnell called out a "sad display of toxic masculinity from a narcissistic madman," while Kathy Griffin added: "Now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theaters."
From the literary world, Booker prize-winning author Bernadine Evaristo suggested that Smith had not just wrecked what should have been his greatest triumph, but had also sullied his legacy.
"Only the fifth black man in nearly 100 years to win an Oscar for male lead, and the first in 16 years, resorts to violence instead of utilizing the power of words to slay Chris Rock.Then he claims God and Love made him do it," she said.
Smith, who rose to fame in 1990s sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," has a history of antagonism with Rock going back several years, since the comedian took a swing at Pinkett Smith over the couple's boycott of the 2016 Oscars.
But rapper and producer Sean "Diddy" Combs indicated Sunday's acrimony was short-lived, telling Page Six: "That's not a problem.That's over.I can confirm that."
"It's all love.They're brothers."
Smith went from the Oscars to the Vanity Fair after party, where he and his family posed for photos.
Inside, he was filmed dancing and singing along to his 1991 smash "Summertime".
Trade title Variety reported that when asked how he was after his eventful evening, Smith replied: "It’s all love."
There was no immediate formal reaction from Smith or his representatives, though the actor appeared to address the controversy on Instagram.
Smith commented on his own pre-Oscars post -- a video of him and Pinkett Smith which was captioned "got all dressed up to choose chaos" -- adding: "You can't invite people from Philly or Baltimore nowhere!!"
Smith is from Philadelphia, and Pinkett Smith is from Baltimore.
Some celebrities came to Smith's defense, with former One Direction singer Liam Payne telling reporters: "I believe whatever he felt that he did, he had the right to do."
Massachusetts lawmaker Ayanna Pressley, who lost her hair due to alopecia, enthused in a since-deleted tweet: "#Alopecia nation stand up!Thank you #WillSmith.Shout out to all the husbands who defend their wives living with alopecia in the face of daily ignorance & insults."
Some social media users called for Smith to be stripped of his Oscar, but Academy governor and Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg said that would not happen.
"We’re not going to take that Oscar from him," she said on daytime TV show "The View."
"There will be consequences I’m sure, but I don’t think that's what they’re going to do, particularly because Chris [Rock] said, ‘Listen, I’m not pressing any charges.'"
