Thread by @TelegraphFilm

❓How did the smack, which will go down in Hollywood history, come about?

From Chris Rock’s past digs at Jada Pinkett Smith to how Will Smith will handle his new reputation, this is how it went down 🧵👇
telegraph.co.uk/films/0/will-s…

📅Chris Rock and the Smiths have known each other since 1995, when Rock starred alongside Smith in a dual cameo on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

Rock cross-dressed as the two sisters Maurice and Jasmine who Smith had to take on a date to keep his job

Smith met Jada that year, and they married two years later.

But it was clear the trio remained friendly, being pictured on nights out and at awards ceremonies together.

In 2005, Rock starred alongside Pinkett Smith in Dreamworks’s hit animation Madagascar as well as two sequels

During this time, Rock reflected on the difficulties of making jokes about Smith.

💬In a 2009 interview with CNN, he said: “[Obama’s] just one of those guys, you know, like Will Smith. There's no Will Smith jokes. There's no Brad Pitt jokes"

He didn’t heed his own advice, though.

➡️During his opening monologue at the 2016 Oscars, Rock couldn’t resist a dig at Pinkett Smith

Addressing that year’s controversy-du-jour, #Oscarssowhite, which protested the lack of people of colour in the nominations, he took aim at Jada, who was one of the organisers of the protest.

“Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited”

✍️Given their overlapping social circles, it seems unlikely that Rock would have been unaware of Pinkett Smith’s struggles with alopecia – she first spoke publicly about it in 2018

Perhaps last night’s gag, then, was an ill-judged tease between friends? But in such a public forum, it came across as crass and cruel, writes @AHABDiggins.

Yet it paled in comparison to Smith's reaction

Read the full story 👇
telegraph.co.uk/films/0/will-s…