"Get my wife's name out of your f****** mouth" screamed Will Smith to Chris Rock in one of the most awkward moments in Oscars history. Video / TVNZ
Amid the chaos of Monday's most talked-about Oscars moment, one winner has recalled the "disrespectful" joke Chris Rock cracked immediately after he was slapped.
Given the circumstances of the night, the moment slipped under the radar, but Summer of Soul producer Joseph Patel isn't willing to let it go unnoticed.
Patel, whose film won the Oscar for Best Documentary Film, presented by Chris Rock, has taken to Twitter with a furious rant aimed at both Will Smith and Rock for "robbing" him of the life-affirming moment.
Declaring that while Smith's outburst was "selfish" and overshadowed the triumph, he said what happened next has also left him fuming for days.
"It's taken me a few days to process everything. Still sort of processing it," he wrote in a lengthy thread.
"Once we realised the Chris Rock/Will Smith interaction wasn't a bit, everything got turned upside down. Everyone was still trying to make sense of it when Chris persevered and started to read the nominees," he recalled.
"What I didn't hear in that moment walking to stage but was told of afterwards is what Chris Rock said when reading our name from the winner's card – The winner is 'Summer of Soul … Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and ... 4 white guys.' WHAT IN THE ACTUAL F*CK?????"
Chris Rock arrives at the Wilbur Theater before a performance in Boston. Photo / AP
The producer, who is South Asian, worked on the film with drummer from The Roots, Questlove, whose real name is Ahmir Thompson, along with David Dinerstein and Robert Fyvolent.
He said being "lumped in as 1 of 4 white guys" (pointing out there were actually three producers, not four) as his friends and family watched on has reduced him to a state of fury given the significance of the moment. He said Rock had made the same joke the night before, so being flustered after the slap was no excuse.
"The reason that makes me SO SO VERY ANGRY is because I was so proud to be one of a handful of South Asians to have ever won an Oscar in the history of the award.
"I'm a big boy – I can take a joke. Comedians make jokes. But not in that moment. What a shitty, disrespectful thing to do. AND HERE'S THE THING ... It wasn't that Chris Rock was under stress. He made the same joke the night before on stage at the Roots Jam!
"So I'm angry. Angry at Will Smith. Angry at Chris Rock. Angry for me. Angry for Ahmir. Angry for my fellow filmmakers."
Concluding his explosive tirade, he said he hasn't been able to watch the moment back thanks to Rock's thoughtless jib, calling the comedian an "absolute f***ing d***".
From left, Joseph Patel, Questlove, David Dinerstein, Robert Fyvolent, winners of the award for best documentary feature for 'Summer Of Soul.' Photo / AP
"I got back home to New York last night and saw the ceremony on my DVR and didn't have the stomach to watch it. I probably never will. Thank you, Chris – You absolute f***ing d***."
Summer of Soul is Questlove's directorial debut about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, featuring never-before-seen footage of the concert series.
It beat out fellow nominees Ascension, Attica, Writing With Fire, and Flee for the Best Documentary Oscar.
Meanwhile, the Academy has announced it will take disciplinary action against Smith after he charged the Dolby Theatre stage and slapped Rock for insulting his wife, refusing to leave until he was presented with his Best Actor gong.
The organisation said it would meet again on April 18 to decide on an appropriate path of punishment.
Rock has addressed the incident for the first time during a stand up show in Boston, telling the crowd: "I don't have a bunch of s*** about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend.
"I'm still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point I'll talk about that s***. And it will be serious and funny."
