Why Will Smith PUNCHED Chris Rock at the Oscars

'Wow. Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me.'
'Keep my wife's name out of your f**king mouth!'

In a wild and what appeared to be an unscripted moment at the Oscars, Will Smith strode to the stage and landed a punch on Chris Rock after the comedian cracked a joke about the actor's wife Jada Pinkett-Smith.

The exchange started when Rock came on stage to announce the winners for Best Documentary Feature award.

Before revealing the winner, Rock decided to land a joke on Pinkett-Smith, saying she could star in the sequel to G.I. Jane, to which she was seen rolling her eyes.

The joke was in reference to Pinkett-Smith's shaved head because of the autoimmune disorder alopecia but it did not go down well with Smith. He went up to the stage and punched Rock, leaving everybody in attendance shocked by the violence.

After receiving the jab from the actor, Rock said, 'Wow. Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me.'

Once he reached back to his seat, Smith shouted at Rock, saying twice, 'Keep my wife's name out of your f**king mouth!'

After Rock announced the winners of the best documentary feature award, Diddy was the next presenter during the ceremony.

The rapper, who appeared to introduce the 50th anniversary celebration to The Godfather, addressed the situation by saying, 'Will and Chris, we're going to solve that like a family. Right now we're moving on with love. Everybody make some noise.'

Will Smith later addressed the incident during his winning speech after receiving the Best Actor award for his role in King Richard:

'Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family. In this time in my life, in this moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world. Making this film, I got to protect Aunjanue Ellis, who is one of the strongest, most delicate people I've ever met. I got to protect Saniyya and Demi, the two actresses that played Venus and Serena.

'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 got to be able to take abuse. You got to be able to have people talk crazy about you.

'In this business you got to be able to have people disrespecting you. And you got to smile and you got to pretend like that's okay.'

In a commercial break following the incident with Rock, fellow nominee Denzel Washington comforted Smith.

Will Smith added Washington's words in his acceptance speech: 'Denzel said a few minutes ago, "At your highest moment, be careful, that's when the Devil comes for you.'

'I want to be a vessel for love. I want to say thank you to Venus and Serena... and the entire Williams family for entrusting me with your story.

'That's what I want to do. I want to be an ambassador of that kind of love and care and concern.

'I want to apologize to the Academy, I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment and I'm not crying for winning an award,' Smith stated as the tears flowed out.

'It's not about winning an award for me; it's about being able to shine a light on all the people… and the entire cast and crew of King Richard and Venus and Serena and 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.

'To my mother, a lot of this moment is really complicated for me, but to my mother -- she didn't want to come out, she has her knitting friends, she has a knitting crew she's watching with -- being able to love and care for my mother and my family and my wife -- I'm taking up too much time -- thank you for this honour.

'Thank you for this moment. I thank you on behalf of Richard and Oracene and the entire Williams family. Thank you. I'm hoping the Academy invites me back. Thank you.'

The Los Angeles police department said it had taken note of Smith's violence, but added that Rock did not want to press charges.