WILL Smith has broken more than Chris Rock’s spirit.
The video of the pair’s altercation at the 2022 Oscars has smashed a YouTube record after accruing 50MILLION views in a single day.
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The previous holder, a clip posted by Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson in November 2021, racked up 43million hits in a 24-hour period.
During Sunday night’s ceremony, Smith, 53, walked on stage and slapped Rock after the comedian appeared to make a joke about the hair loss suffered by his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith.
The American actress has been vocal about her struggles with alopecia.
The shocking moment quickly went viral online, sparking thousands of jokes and memes on social media.
A 90-second clip of the slap uploaded to YouTube by The Guardian is already breaking records.
The video has topped YouTube’s trending lists for over 24 hours and amassed hundreds of thousands of comments.
It has beaten American YouTuber MrBeast’s record for garnering the most views on a non-music or trailer video in a 24-hour period.
The video in question was the highly-anticipated recreation of Netflix’s Squid Game, which had 42.6million views a day after it hit the site.
Having broken that record with 50million hits in a day, Will Smith’s smack was at 69million views as of Tuesday morning.
MrBeast has yet to respond to being bested just four months after he was awarded the accolade.
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Sunday’s late-night drama is far from over.
Despite the confrontation, the King Richard nominee took home the night’s win for Best Actor.
Insiders have suggested, however, that the furious Oscars bosses are considering stripping Smith of the award over his on-stage attack.
After the ceremony was over, the Academy tweeted: “The Academy does not condone violence of any form.”
An official spokesperson said on Monday: “The Academy condemns the actions of Mr Smith at last night’s show.
“We have officially started a formal review around the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct and California law.”
Whoopi Golberg, who is the Governor of the Academy’s Actors branch, poured cold water on the rumours.
Reflecting on the assault on her talk show The View on Monday, she said: “I think it was a lot of stuff probably built up.
“I think he overreacted… I think he had one of those moments where it was like [God damn] it, just stop.”
Whoopi’s co-host Sunny Hostin said she was “surprised [Will] wasn’t escorted out”, and questioned if his Oscar would be taken away.
Whoopi replied: “We’re not going to take that Oscar from him.
“There will be consequences I’m sure, but I don’t think that’s what they’re going to do, particularly because Chris said ‘Listen, I’m not pressing any charges.'”
Smith issued a public apology to Rock on Monday night, calling his own behaviour at the Academy Awards “unacceptable and inexcusable.”
“Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive,” he said.
“Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.”
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
