The Oscars were forced to break a long-running tradition last night, and it's all because of Will Smith getting a 10-year ban for what occurred at the event last year.
In what was arguably the most talked about incident in Oscars history, Will Smith took to the stage last year to confront Chris Rock about a joke made about his wife.
Jada Pinkett Smith was the butt of a poorly-received bit of comedy where Rock compared her to G.I. Jane due to her shaved head, not knowing it was due to alopecia.
The Fresh Prince star didn't take too kindly to his wife being the target of the joke, so stormed on stage and slapped Rock across the face, before sitting back down and shouting "keep my wife's name out your "f***ing mouth."
Watch the incident below:Needless to say, the organizers weren't overly impressed about the assault which overshadowed the rest of the evening, so they dished out a 10-year ban to Smith meaning he was unable to attend this year.
Given that he wasn't allowed the attend, a long-running tradition was broken last night as it is normally customary for the previous Best Actor winner to present an award.
Despite assaulting the host last year, Smith went on to win the Best Actor award later on in the night for his portrayal of Richard Williams in the movie King Richard - a biopic about tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams and how their father's training helped them take over the sport.
As a result of his win, Smith should have taken to the stage to present the Best Actress award to Michelle Yeoh for her performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once, but as previously stated, he couldn't attend.
There was a lot of speculation as to whether the infamous slap from last year was to be brought up, and it was mentioned fairly early in the evening by host Jimmy Kimmel who had previously stated that he had to mention it at some point.
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, the talk show host said: "Well, whatever I say about it, it’s going to have to be great, right? Because so much has been said and there’s so much focus on it. I obviously don’t want to make the whole monologue about that, but it would be ridiculous not to mention it."
He also stated that if anyone were to attempt to slap him as he hosted the ceremony, he would "beat the s***" out of them, unless it was Dwayne Johnson, in which case he would quickly run away.
Check out Kimmel's opening monologue below:Last night's ceremony largely went without controversy, unless you're an Austin Butler fan who feels that he should have taken home the Best Actor award over Brendan Fraser... But surely we can let Fraser have this one, right?
Only nine more ceremonies to go before Smith can join back in with the celebrations.
