Oscar goes to 'Power of the Punch' directed by Will Smith: Academy 'slapgate' moment inspires a meme fest on the Internet

The Oscars finally went live after two years of silence due to the pandemic. The Oscars had some of the amazing moments from Ariana DeBose bagging the first big award of the night for Best Supporting Actress, Jane Campion winning Best Director to Troy Kotsur of 'CODA' becoming the first deaf man to win an Oscar.

The 94th Academy Awards also paid a tribute to giants at the in-person award show as 'The Godfather' and 'Pulp Fiction' received their long due respect. But what's a fun-filled night without a little drama?

The prestigious ceremony is being called as a 'slapgate' after Will Smith, who was running for Best Actor award (which he won later that evening), stormed the stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock for joking about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.


While announcing nominees, Rock had compared Jada's tightly cropped hair, caused by alopecia -- an autoimmune disorder which causes baldness, to Demi Moore's appearance in the film 'G.I. Jane', adding that she may appear in the sequel.

"Keep my wife's name out of your f****** mouth," yelled Smith after striking Rock across the face. The slap incident obviously kicked off a storm on the Internet before the show could even end.

Though the incident shocked many, netizens couldn't help but use it as an inspiration for memes and jokes on the social media. Smith is already quite popular when it comes to Internet memes and has given birth to some of the iconic jokes in the past, so it was no shocker that his Oscar incident 'Rocked' the Internet yet again. (Get the pun?)

In the memes, people compared Will Smith with late rapper Tupac. Jada and Shakur shared a close friendship.


The incident also made people compare the old Smith meme better known as 'Tada' from 2011 where the actor and his wife Jada were snapped at the 2007 Screen Actors Guild Awards. Some urged the Academy Awards to give second Oscar to Smith for directing 'Best Live Action Film'.

"and the Oscar for best live action short film goes to… The Power of the punch directed by Will Smith," user tweeted.

Here are some of the best memes making the rounds on the Internet which turned the history but awkward 2022 Oscars moment into a hilarious one. Take a look: