Is there a chance that King Richard actor Will Smith could lose his Oscar for physically assaulting Chris Rock in the slap seen across the globe?

According to the Academy Awards code of conduct, the short answer appears to be “yes.”

In a tweet shared on March 27 after the highly publicized event took place, The Academy said, “The Academy does not condone violence of any form.”

After stepping on stage to deliver a shocking smack to Oscars host Chris Rock, Smith went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. But his actions may cause him to have to return his hardware.

The code of conduct explains, “In addition to achieving excellence in the field of motion picture arts and sciences, members must also behave ethically by upholding the Academy’s values of respect for human dignity, inclusion, and a supportive environment that fosters creativity.”

Virtually anyone and everyone with a Twitter account had something to say about the incident last night, with director ​​Judd Apatow writing, “He could have killed him. That’s pure out of control rage and violence. They’ve heard a million jokes about them in the last three decades. They are not freshman in the world of Hollywood and comedy. He lost his mind.” That tweet has since been deleted, but of course you can never truly delete anything from the internet and the screenshots remain.

Others seem to believe that Smith was under an extreme amount of pressure and had misplaced anger as his relationship with Jada Pinkett Smith has caused an avalanche of unwanted press in recent years due to rumors of affairs complete with a song from the alleged participant that featured Rick Ross, viral memes and most recently actress Laverne Cox making a disgusting comment about the “entanglement” scandal while interviewing the Smiths at the 2022 SAG awards.

“I feel bad for Chris Rock. I think he got August [Alsina] and Laverne Cox’s smoke,” one user said on the social media platform.

Although Smith received his fair share of backlash, others such as his son Jaden Smith and Migos rapper Offset came to his defense. Tiffany Haddish even called the moment the, “most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” as Smith did it while defending his wife who suffers from the hair loss disease, alopecia.