Featured Image Credit: Alamy/ABC
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity, Dana White, UFC, Will Smith
Claire Reid
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity, Dana White, UFC, Will Smith
Dana White has weighed in on the dramatic moment Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars and it seems as though he’s impressed by the comedian’s reaction.
Last night’s Oscars took a dramatic turn after Smith stormed the stage and slapped Rock after he made a joke about wife Jada Pinkett Smith.
Smith was left fuming after Rock compared Pinkett Smith to GI Jane, so made his way to the stage to slap the host before returning to his seat and shouting: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth.”
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As you can probably imagine, the incident managed to garner plenty of attention and now UFC boss White has given his opinion.
Posting a clip of the slap on Instagram, he wrote: “FINALLY!!!! There’s an Oscar’s show worth watching. AND @chrisrock has a chin.”
A chin is a slang term in combat sports referring to a fighter's ability to take blows to the chin or jaw area without being knocked out.
The post was quickly flooded with responses from people begging White to get the pair snapped up for a fight in the Octagon.
One wrote: “UFC ppv. Make that happen.”
Another said: “Book the match up asap @danawhite @chrisrock vs @willsmith.”
While a third wrote: “Make them fight in the Octagon.”
Others were impressed by Rock’s response to the slap, with one follower commenting: “Chris Rock may have won an Oscar himself with the way he was able to shake that off and keep it going.”
Shortly after he slapped Rock, Smith won the coveted best actor award for his role in King Richard.
In his acceptance speech, he said his character Richard Williams, father of tennis champions Venus and Serena, was a ‘fierce defender of his family’.
Smith continued: “I’m being called on in my life to love people. And to protect people and to be a river to my people.
“I know, to do what we do, you gotta be able to take abuse. You gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you gotta be able to have people disrespecting you and you gotta smile and pretend like that’s OK.”
He went on: “I want to apologise to the Academy. I want to apologise to all my fellow nominees.
“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 light on all the people, Tim [White, producer], Trevor [White, producer], Zach [Baylin, writer], Saniyya [Sidney, who plays Venus], and Demi [Singleton, who plays Serena] and Aunjanue [Ellis, who plays Oracene Price] of King Richard and Serena, the entire Williams family.
“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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