I know we’re a Philly sports site, but we have to talk about the Will Smith/Chris Rock entanglement last night. It’s the greatest moment in live television history. One of the biggest stars in Hollywood, who is being nominated for Best Actor, slaps the ever-living shit out of one of the biggest comedians of all time AND THEN wins his first Academy Award ever, 20 minutes later.

If you went to bed early and didn’t see the slap, here it is uncensored on Australian TV:

And here it is in slo-mo:

You can’t script this shit! The Oscars were a complete snoozefest last night. I turned them off to catch up on Yellowstone. Once I saw the slap, the Oscars went right back on, which should tell the Academy all it needs to know – fighting every year. Let’s get a Hell in the Cell match every year. I want Tom Holland throwing Timothee Chalamet through the Spanish announcers table off the cell. Let Benicio Del Toro design some crazy underwater hellscape that Tom Hardy and Jacob Elordi can go toe to toe in. We have the most creative and talented people in the world in one room. Let’s utilize it.

So was it real or fake? The cynic in me wants to think it is fake. Staged by Hollywood as they can feel the ratings slip and zero jokes land last night. When Will Smith won the award it felt like it was even more staged. The slap looked too professional, like it occurred on a movie set. Usually these things are always awkward. Someone throws their hands up or it’s never a solid slap. Plus Chris Rock didn’t even react when Will wound up to ask what the five fingers said to the face. But if it was a bit, I don’t think the Academy would’ve added in the “Keep my wife’s name out your fucking mouth” part. There was also video of Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry comforting Will during commercial:

https://twitter.com/ScottFeinberg/status/1508273120473325573?s=20&t=G3e5Ux2iS17z9Ii9sWX8Mg

So after a long scientific investigation, I’m determining that this i real. Will be interesting to see how they address this in Grown Ups 3.