Will Smith’s now-infamous encounter with Chris Rock at last night’s 2022 Oscars presentation event has already spawned several video game-related memes, including references to titles like Elden Ring, Persona 5, and Fortnite. As with most years, the stars gathered at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles to celebrate the best films and performances of the past 12 months, including Will Smith’s own portrayal of Richard Williams in the biopic King Richard. However, before accepting the award for Best Actor in this film, Smith took to the stage for a completely different and far less celebratory reason.
Earlier in the evening, comedian Chris Rock was presenting the award for Best Documentary when he started making a few jokes about the attendees, one of which was Jada Pinkett Smith - Will Smith's wife, known for her work in movies like the later Matrix sequels. Rock compared Pinkett Smith’s short haircut to G.I. Jane, a wisecrack that Will Smith apparently took to be a remark about her alopecia. Smith walked on stage and was seen slapping Rock before returning to his seat. Smith would later apologize for his actions during his acceptance speech for Best Actor, and later reports have indicated that Rock will not be pressing criminal charges for the incident. Still, the moment spawned a wave of controversy and plenty of internet memes making light of the brief-but-violent confrontation at a normally peaceful celebrity gathering.
Video game memes have already spawned from Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, as shown across social media. shroobery edited the footage of the slap to make it appear like Smith hitting Rock led to him gaining Epic Victory status in Fortnite - a reference that is made humorous by the fact that Will Smith featured as a playable Fortnite character skin. Reddit user Simon-Olivier posted a meme to the Elden Ring subreddit comparing Smith’s slapping of Rock to Margit, the Fell Omen striking down a Tarnished’s “foolish Ambitions.” Alberto_0919 would insert Persona 5’s attack menu to the image of the slap in a post on r/Persona5, while on Twitter, Michael The Tarnished framed the slap as Chris Rock claiming that Ubisoft’s many open-world games are actually better than Elden Ring, only to be struck down for his efforts.
Celebrity spats and rivalries are often made light of in video games, as was the case when a fan recently simulated the bitter feud between Kanye West and Pete Davidson in a virtual WWE 2K22 backstreet brawl. Meanwhile, it’s not often that the Oscars become a source of comedy in the gaming world, but players are always happy to joke about certain elements of titles like Elden Ring or the infamous Cyberpunk 2077 using movie scenes or celebrity reaction photos.
Will Smith and Chris Rock’s brief confrontation at last night’s Academy Awards presentation has seemingly overshadowed the rest of the show’s festivities, as evidenced by the many memes and responses people have made to the slap. Seeing Will Smith strike Chris Rock does feel like something out of a fighting game, and fans of Elden Ring, Persona 5, Fortnite, and many other games may now have a new meme template.
Source: Simon-Olivier/Reddit, Alberto_0919/Reddit, Michael The Tarnished/Twitter, shroobery/Twitter