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Will Smith and Chris Rock’s Oscars 2022 altercation will forever go down in history as one of the most shocking Academy Awards happenings ever. Will slapped Rock on stage after Rock made fun of Will’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, for her shaved head due to alopecia. And this isn’t the first time Rock has made fun of the Smith family. Here’s what he once said about Will Smith’s kids on late-night television.

Will Smith and Chris Rock have a history that spans beyond the Oscars 2022 slap

Will Smith slaps Chris Rock at the Oscars 2022 on stage
Chris Rock and Will Smith at the Oscars 2022 | Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Will Smith and Chris Rock’s Oscars 2022 slap was completely unexpected. The comedian made a joke regarding Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair and G.I. Jane, causing Will to walk on stage and slap him in front of everyone. After the slap, Will then yelled at Rock to remove his wife’s name from Rock’s mouth.

It doesn’t seem like Will Smith and Chris Rock’s history is particularly tarnished. But prior to the Oscars 2022 debacle, Rock made a joke about Jada back in 2016 that many viewers still remember. Jada chose to boycott the Academy Awards that year due to a lack of diversity in the nominees, and Will also chose to sit that year out.

“Jada said she’s not coming,” Rock said at the time, Us Weekly reports “I was like, ‘Isn’t she on a TV show?’ Jada’s gonna boycott the Oscars? Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited!”

“Hey, look, it comes with the territory, but we gotta keep it moving,” Jada said in response, according to Us Weekly. “We gotta keep it moving. We gotta keep it moving. There’s a lot of stuff we gotta handle, a lot of stuff in our world right now. We gotta keep it moving.”

Chris Rock once made fun of Will Smith’s kids on late-night television

Willow Smith, Jaden Smith, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett Smith standing together and smiling at an event
Willow Smith, Jaden Smith, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett Smith | Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

Will Smith and Chris Rock didn’t appear to be feuding back in 2011. But when Rock spoke to David Letterman on The David Letterman Show back in 2011, Smith’s kids came up in conversation. Will and Jada have a son, Jaden Smith, who’s now 23, and a daughter, Willow Smith, who’s 21. Both Jaden and Willow acted in movies in the past, and they have successful music careers today.

Back in 2011, Rock initially talked to Letterman about how he took his daughters to a basketball game where they met Justin Bieber, according to a YouTube clip. Rock said Bieber gave his 9-year-old daughter a pair of his purple sunglasses. “By the time we got home, she was pregnant, Dave,” Rock joked. “Unbelievable, Dave. We’re gonna keep the kid, though. We’re keeping this one.”

“I want some singing kid,” Rock continued. “That Will Smith messed it up for everybody. Kids singing and dancing. The guy’s already taken parts from me, now his kids are taking parts from my kids. It’s horrible. What the hell? Will Smith, don’t you have enough? D*** you, Will Smith!”

Jaden Smith tweeted about his father’s slap

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Will Smith Recalls ‘One of the Greatest Arguments’ with Jada Pinkett Smith

It’s unclear if Will Smith ever knew about the 2011 joke Chris Rock made about him and his children. But Jaden Smith certainly saw Will Smith and Chris Rock’s Oscars 2022 altercation. After the slap, Jaden took to Twitter.

“And that’s how we do it,” he tweeted.

Will Smith also posted to social media after the debacle.

“Me ‘n @jadapinkettsmith got all dressed up to choose chaos,” he captioned a post of him and Jada on Instagram. “You can’t invite people from Philly or Baltimore nowhere!!” he added in the comments.

Jada Pinkett Smith has yet to comment publicly on what occurred. Willow Smith also didn’t appear to comment.

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