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
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NHAI may consider asking road contractors to setup gaushalas for stray animals on highways: SC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday told the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to consider asking concessionaires involved in construction of roads to set up a gaushala (cowshed) under CSR responsibility to take care of stray animals entering the highways.
A bench of justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria which reserved its verdict on a batch of petitions seeking modification of the November 7 order of the top court on relocation and sterilisation of stray dogs expressed its unhappiness over the efforts of Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in complying with its direction.
The top court said the efforts of the Punjab government in sterilising 100 stray dogs a day was inadequate and said it is "needle in a haystack".
The bench asked the counsel appearing for NHAI to also develop an app where people can report sightings of stray animals on the national highways.
"You can also ask the concessionaires to setup a gaushala after say 50 km where these stray animals can be taken care of under the corporate social responsibility," the bench told the counsel.
The counsel agreed to look into the possibility of developing the app and asking the concessionaire to set up gaushalas.
The NHAI counsel pointed that there were over 1300 vulnerable locations on the National Highways and the authority is dealing with it to avoid any road mishaps.
He said that most of the states have taken steps in removing stray cattle from the highways but still few like Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Rajasthan are yet to come forward to deal with the issue.
Dealing with the compliance of its earlier directions, the top court was told by Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for Rajasthan that sterilisation centres and fencing of education institutional areas have been done in the state.
The bench pointed out that as per the affidavit of the state government only 45 vans are there for catching stray dogs and said it was insufficient.
"Around 20 vans will be required for Jaipur alone. You need to ramp up the facilities and increase the number of vehicles for different cities. The arguments have been made that the CSVR (Capture, Sterilise, Vaccinate and Release) formula under the ABC rules has to be implemented. Unless there are more vehicles and manpower, how will you manage that," Justice Mehta asked.
Bhati said, "We have sought more budgetary allocations to deal with the issue."
The bench said, "If you don't tackle this problem today it will keep on magnifying. Every year the population of stray dogs will go up by 10-15 per cent. You are increasing your own problems by avoiding this. As Punjab said, they are doing sterilisation for 100 dogs a day. This is no use. It is a needle in a haystack."
The counsel for the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) informed the bench that after November 7, last year, order of the apex court there was surge in applications from NGOs and private parties for opening of sterilisation centres and animal shelters.
"There are certain pending applications. There are more than 250 applications filed after the November 7 order...They have not yet been given recognition by us," the counsel said.
She pointed out inaccuracies in data reported by many state governments on sterilisation of stray dogs and said that in one State the dog population is less while the data for sterilisation is more.
Justice Nath while asking the parties to file their written submissions as early as possible asked the AWBI, "Our only request to the AWBI is whatever applications are pending, you should process them expeditiously. Either you accept it or reject them but take a decision."
At the outset, senior advocate Gaurav Agarwal who has been appointed as amicus curiae summarised the steps taken by states like Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan in complying with the orders and pointed out the deficiencies.
On Wednesday, the top court flagged its concern over state governments not complying with its directions to enhance their stray dogs sterilisation capacity, saying, "They are all building castles in the air."
The top court was hearing several petitions seeking modification of its November 7, 2025, order directing authorities to remove stray animals from the institutional areas and roads.
On January 13, the top court said it would ask states to pay a "heavy compensation" for dog bite incidents and hold dog feeders accountable for such cases.
The court also flagged concerns over the non-implementation of norms on stray animals for the last five years.
Taking note of the "alarming rise" in dog-bite incidents within institutional areas such as educational institutions, hospitals and railway stations, the apex court on November 7 directed relocation of stray canines forthwith to designated shelters after due sterilisation and vaccination.
It had also said stray dogs picked up shall not be released back to their original place.
The court had directed authorities to ensure the removal of all cattle and other stray animals from the state highways, national highways and expressways.
The top court is hearing a suo motu case, initiated on July 28 last year, over a media report on stray dog bites leading to rabies, particularly among children, in the national capital.
