A body language expert has claimed that Will Smith smacking Chris Rock across the face 'couldn't be faked'.
During Sunday evening's 94th Academy Awards, Chris made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head. She suffers from alopecia.
He was then filmed walking onto the stage, approaching the comedian, and slapping him on the face.
The expert, named Darren Stanton, said viewers could see the 'visible emotional shift' within the couple after the joke was made.
"The joke targeting Jada’s shaved head following her battle with alopecia, clearly made her uncomfortable and she showed signs in her face of awkwardness and disdain after being embarrassed in front of her peers and the world," Darren said for Slingo.
“Will, on the other hand, made a slightly loose laugh and leant back in his chair, which is a sign of tension or uneasiness."
The expert went on to say that Will did a 'chin thrust', which is a sign of dominance.
Darren added: "There’s been a number of theories online that this confrontation was staged, however, gauging from the degree of anger that Will Smith was displaying, this was 100% genuine.
"You cannot fake that level of emotion."
Chris tried to make light of the situation after the joke was made and Jada visibly rolled her eyes.
“Wow, Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me,” Chris joked with the audience.
He also said: "That was the greatest night in the history of television."
After Will returned to his seat next to Jada, he also yelled out: "Keep my wife's name out of your f****** mouth."
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Later on in the evening, Will went on to win his first Oscar for his performance in King Richard and apologised on stage for his previous actions.
Will won the award for Best Actor and used his acceptance speech to say: "I want to apologise to the Academy, I want to apologise to all my fellow nominees."
The star was tearful as he made his speech for what was his first-ever Oscars win.
He continued: "This is a beautiful moment and I'm not crying for winning an award, it's not about winning an award for me, it's about being able to shine a light on all of the people.
"Art imitates life, I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams, but love will make you do crazy things."
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