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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
David Kent

The six-year feud between Chris Rock and Will Smith that boiled over in Oscars scrap

The showbiz world exploded overnight after one of the most dramatic moments in the history of the Oscars.

Sunday evening's Academy Awards ceremony saw Will Smith storm the stage and deliver a hard slap to Chris Rock.

It came seconds after Rock made a joke which referenced Jada Pinkett Smith's alopecia - something which didn't go down well with the Fresh Prince star.

READ MORE: Watch moment Will Smith smacks Chris Rock at Oscars 2022 - and full joke about wife

Smith would later apologise as he accepted the Best Actor award for his performance in King Richard.

The slap was all anyone could talk about in the aftermath of the show.

But this isn't the first time that Rock has used the Oscars to take a swipe at Smith and his wife.

Back in 2016, the Grown Ups star was hosting the glitzy event, meaning that he gave the traditional monologue that we see every year from the presenters.

But even before the ceremony had started, Pinkett Smith had announced she would boycott it in protest over the lack of diverse nominees.

When he took to the stage to monologue, Rock said: "Jada got mad, said she's not coming. Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna's panties — I wasn't invited!

"You get mad. It's not fair that Will was this good and didn't get nominated. It's also not fair that Will was paid $20 million for Wild Wild West."

Prior to Chris referencing her hairstyle on Sunday, Jada has previously revealed her reasons for shaving her head, after struggling with alopecia.

Speaking on Instagram last year, the actress explained: "Now at this point, I can only laugh… y’all know I’ve been struggling with alopecia. Just all of a sudden, one day…it just showed up like that.

"Now, this is going to be a little bit more difficult for me to hide. So, I thought I’d just share it so y’all not asking any questions…Mama’s gonna have to take it down to the scalp so nobody thinks she got brain surgery or something. Me and this alopecia are going to be friends … period!"

READ MORE: Will Smith won't face police charges after Chris Rock Oscar smack

READ MORE: Oscars 2022: Full list of winners as CODA wins Best Picture and Dune scoops six awards

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