The media is buzzing at the news of Will Smith physically assaulting comedian Chris Rock at the 94th Oscars awards ceremony. As of now, it is unclear if the action was a publicity stunt or if the action was out of malice for the comedian. Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, being bald. Her reaction was relatively neutral but was accompanied with an eye roll, whereas Smith’s initial reaction was to laugh. That being said, it is unclear if the action was a publicity stunt. Smith then stormed the stage and slapped Rock in the face in defense of his wife, supposedly. According to the New York Times, Smith’s wife suffers with ‘alopecia’ which is a condition that leads to hair loss. Rock immediately explained on stage that it was a joke and all in good fun, but that didn’t stop Smith from assaulting the comedian. After Smith’s action the volume immediately cut out from the show and you could only see Smith cursing at Rock. Smith told him to ‘keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth,’ according to the viral uncensored videos. The true intention is still veiled, but there are context clues leading to the idea that it was actually a real gesture.

After everything had calmed down Rock stated: “That was the greatest night in the history of television,” according to the New York Times reporter, Matt Stevens. Rock was trying to lighten the mood, thus adding to the allusion that it was a real action of passion. There still isn’t word if it was a publicity stunt. The rumor of a public staging of the assault is splitting the world apart, but why would the Oscars want to stage the mishap?

Since there is no immediate confirmation that the event was staged or real, people are coming up with their own thoughts as to why the assault was staged or legitimate. One reason why people are referring to the ‘match’ as staged is because the ratings on the Oscars aren’t as high as they used to be. According to the New York Times, merely 9.85 million people watched the awards show last year and it spiked a vast 56 percent with 15.4 million people watching this year. The ratings were too low, according to viral conspiracy theories, so the Oscars staged the encounter to draw more attention to the awards ceremony. The thought of not knowing is tearing America apart worse than the ‘Yanny’ and ‘Laurel’ controversy of 2018.

Social media is blowing up at the Oscars event and people are running with the idea by making humorous videos. TikTok and Instagram feeds have been quite exciting recently. People are bringing up past controversies from people in the Smith family, including Jaden Smith, showing a clip of an old movie where he was brutally beaten in the hit movie The Karate Kid remake. Jaden Smith tweeted “And That’s How We Do It” on Twitter giving internet trolls the perfect opportunity to stitch movie scenes of him being demolished in combat. Arguably, the best part of the controversy is the mockery that followed.

The uncertainty is causing people to take many different sides. Some are in defense of Rock, others in defense of Smith, and people that just need to know if it was a staged scene or an actual assault. The question still stands, did Chris Rock get rocked?