By Kevin McDonald ‘22

On Sunday, Mar. 27, the biggest night of the year in Hollywood took place, the annual Oscars Award ceremony. During the pandemic, so many great movies came out, some being recognized last Sunday.

Movies like, “Dune,” “Encanto,” and “West Side Story,” were all nominated last Sunday each winning their respective categories. Will Smith took home his first Oscar, winning the best actor category for his role in “King Richard.” Along with Smith, Jessica Chastain took home best actress for her role in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.”

The most important category is obviously the movie of the year, which was won by “CODA,” marking history as the first time a cast mostly made up of deaf people won the award.

Other than that, and a couple of jokes by hosts Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall, nothing else really happened….. until Chris Rock took the stage and “rocked” it.

Chris Rock, a renowned comedian, took the stage to present an award. He started with a quick monologue, cracking some jokes here and there. After going on a couple of minutes, Chris Rock explained how much he loved Will Smith’s wife, Jada Pinckett Smith, along with stating his excitement for her appearance in “G.I. Jane 2.” This comes after Jada’s recent announcement of having alopecia, a hair loss disease.

Will Smith seemed to enjoy the joke at first, then turned to his wife, who was less than impressed. You know the saying, “happy wife, happy life”; this is exactly that. Will Smith then began to scream at Rock.

“Keep my wife’s name out of your mouth,” said Smith.

Smith approached Rock and then proceeded to slap him right across the face. Chris Rock handled the situation extremely well by staying calm and continuing on.

“My first reaction was, ‘Oh my gosh! Will Smith just slapped Chris Rock; this is crazy,’” said senior Alex Stepinski.

The academy has a protocol against violence, so many are wondering if Will Smith’s Oscar will be stripped from him.

“The Oscar award should not be stripped, due to other actors remaining winners for doing worse things, but I do believe he should be banned from the event,” said Brother Rice teacher Mrs. Alvarez.

It will be interesting to see how these events unfold, especially the futures of both men’s careers.