While there’s always a ton of discussion following The Oscars every year, this year, the conversations weren’t surrounding a controversial Best Picture winner or who the best or worst dressed on the red carpet were. Everyone this year has been captivated by the dramatic moment where Will Smith took the stage after Chris Rock made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith’s hair and slapped the comedian across the face.
A body language expert has weighed in on the iconic moment.
It’s not unusual for The Oscars to be full of drama.
This year was definitely no different. As one of three hosts, Amy Schumer came under fire a couple times, from referring to Kirsten Dunst as a “seat filler,” to the accusations that she stole a joke about Leonardo DiCaprio and his famously young girlfriends from Twitter.
The moment almost everyone is talking about, though, is the altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock.
After Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith starring in the sequel to G.I. Jane , a nod to Jada’s bald head, Jada did not appear pleased — she’s spoken out before about her struggles with alopecia, and didn’t seem to appreciate being teased about it.
Will Smith took to the stage to defend his wife.
After approaching Rock and yelling “Keep my wife’s name out of your [expletive] mouth,” Will got closer and slapped Rock across the face, to the surprise of Rock, the audience, and everyone at home.
While this moment has caused a lot of drama, some people think it might have been staged.
Some people have been debating online about whether or not the moment was authentic.
“I don’t know, but when you watch Will Smith first laughing at the joke he then supposedly got upset about…seems staged,” a fan tweeted .
But now, an expert has weighed in.
Darren Stanton, who’s earned the nickname the ‘Human Lie Detector’, has given his read on the moment.
“The joke targeting Jada’s shaved head following her battle with alopecia, clearly made her uncomfortable and she showed signs in her face of awkwardness and disdain after being embarrassed in front of her peers and the world,” Stanton said .
“Will, on the other hand, made a slightly loose laugh and leant back in his chair, which is a sign of tension or uneasiness.”
Stanton added that Chris’ body language suggested he “wasn’t expecting what was about to happen,” and that “he was also exposing most of his body and vital organs, a sign that there didn’t seem to be any imminent danger so he must have thought it was going to be a prank.”
“As Will Smith sat down, the first thing we notice is that he does what we call a chin thrust.”
“This is a classic gesture of power and dominance, like animals do when defending their young. We can also see flared nostrils, prolonged eye contact, which are signs of genuine anger. We also see him flash a micro-expression of disgust, in this instance his nostrils tail in as if he has sensed a bad smell.”
“There’s been a number of theories online that this confrontation was staged, however, gauging from the degree of anger that Will Smith was displaying, this was 100 percent genuine.”
“You cannot fake that level of emotion.”
Not everyone is convinced, however, especially seeing as Will Smith won the Best Actor Oscar later in the show.
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What do you think?
Do you think the moment might have been fake, or do you think that Will’s emotions were real during the altercation? Let us know in the comments!
h/t: LadBible
