Will Smith wins best actor trophy at Oscars, apologises for punching comedian Chris Rock
Los Angeles, Mar 28: Hollywood star Will Smith ended his dry run at the Oscars as he lifted the best actor trophy for "King Richard" minutes after he punched comedian Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith.
The punch will go down in the Oscars history as one of the wildest moments after the 2017's mix up when "La La Land" was mistakenly named as the best picture instead of "Moonlight".
The confrontation took place after Rock joked to Smith that he was looking forward to a sequel to G.I. Jane , Pinkett-Smith's movie.
The actor strode up to the stage and slapped Rock.
When he sat down, Smith was heard shouting "keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth."
The actor referenced the incident his emotional acceptance speech, summing it up as "love will make you do crazy things".
"I'm being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people... You got to be able to take abuse, you got to be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you got to be able to have people disrespecting you and you got to smile and you got pretend like that's okay.
Thank you Denzel (Washington), who said to me a few minutes ago... he said, 'at your highest moment, be careful, that's when the devil comes for you.'
The actor thanked tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams for trusting him with the story of their father.
"I just hope they didn't see that on TV. I want to say thank you to Venus and Serena and the entire Williams family for trusting me with your story. That's what I want to do. I want to be an ambassador of that kind of love and care and concern. I want to apologise to the academy. I want to apologise to my all my fellow nominees.
"...Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things," the actor said by way of explaining his anger at Rock, who had also mocked Pinkett-Smith in his 2016 Oscars monologue as a host.
It was third time lucky for the 53-year-old star who was previously nominated in the same category twice -- "Ali" and "The Pursuit of Happyness" -- but couldn't go all the way.
In the category, Smith was up against Benedict Cumberbatch of "The Power of the Dog", Andrew Garfield of "Tick, Tick... Boom!", Javier Bardem of "Being the Ricardos" and Denzel Washington of The "Tragedy of Macbeth".
Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, the biopic on tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams' father Richard Williams, who guided his prodigal tennis playing daughters from the Compton courts to preeminence in the sport.
Smith delivers a towering perfomance as Williams and paints a sympathetic portrait of the tennis stars' father, who was shaped by poverty, violence and discrimination.
As Williams, Smith was charismatic and overwhelming. He is showns as obstinate, bold, savvy, pugnacious and selfless.
The actor came into Oscar night as a clear favourite, having collected trophies at the BAFTAs, Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards and Critics' Choice Awards.
The Oscar trophy is definitely a high in Smith's career during which he established himself as one of the most bankable stars of Hollywood with films and franchises like "Independence Day", "Men in Black" series, "I am Legend" and "Bad Boys".
But while he delivered commercially with these films, the actor also shined with his performances as boxer Muhammad Ali in "Ali" and later as American businessman and motivational speaker Chris Gardner in "The Pursuit of Happyness".
#badboys3 #gijane2 #willsmith #chrisrock #oscars #besttvever
— Guy Springthorpe (the pistol slug) (@GuySpringthorpe) March 28, 2022
Can't believe what I just saw live on screen pic.twitter.com/YiijPRQENt
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
