K.J. Yossman Two-and-a-half hours into the Oscars broadcast, the energy at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ London viewing party was dipping.
With the U.K. eight hours ahead of L.A, the time was coming up to 3:30 a.m. and even the steady stream of champagne, espresso martinis and miniature bangers and mash couldn’t quell the groans inside the Claridges hotel ballroom when, on the screens dotted around us, an ABC voiceover promised we were entering “our final exciting hour” of the ceremony.“Another hour?” someone moaned and, to be fair, I could see where they were coming from even though I was having a grand old time. (It’s not every day I get to wear a ballgown to watch TV and eat donuts surrounded by giant Oscar statues.) Little did we know, ABC was legitimately going to deliver on that promise of a “final exciting hour.” Just 15 minutes later, uneasy laughter turned to confusion as we watched Will Smith storm the stage and slap Chris Rock.
Unlike in the U.S., where some viewers reported their feed being frozen or blurred before the slap, in London we caught the entire sequence live, although it felt like I was watching in slow motion.There was Rock, taking to the stage to present the next category; joking about Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruise; then another, more controversial, joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith; Smith laughing, Pinkett-Smith rolling her eyes; and then suddenly, Smith was on the gangway and striding towards Rock.
In London, the room suddenly perked up. Rock was laughing but Smith’s purposeful stride suggested he wasn’t in on the joke. Was this scripted or unscripted?It was only the dull thud of Smith’s blow, which was picked up by Rock’s microphone, that alerted us to the fact this might.
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