It was the slap heard around the world — or at least the first few rows of Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater. The moment when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars 2022 ceremony is surely the most controversial in the Academy Awards’ history, somehow surpassing that time someone accidentally thought La La Land was deserving of Best Picture. After the former Fresh Prince of Bel-Air got into one little fight and decided to physically assault comedian and host Rock, the internet has been stumbling over itself to provide memes and reactions to the incident. It turns out that a lot of the memes created have also overlapped with Elden Ring, FromSoftware’s latest ultra-tough action game, with the King Richard actor being cast as one of the game’s tough final bosses compared to Chris Rock’s bemused and overwhelmed player-character.
The best Will Smith and Chris Rock Oscars 2022 reaction memes
The comparisons between Will Smith and Chris Rock’s altercation and an Elden Ring boss fight aren’t immediately obvious until you sit and think about it. Rock delivered an eye-rolling joke at the expense of Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith’s wife, comparing her buzzcut hair to GI Jane. The comedian making fun of Jada’s alopecia, with a joke referencing a 1997 box office flop no one remembers, is a remarkable level of boldness when you consider that she and Big Willie were sitting in the front row with direct access to the stage. This is the equivalent of a player running straight to Margit the Fell Omen in just their underwear and armed with their starting weapon. Fortunately for Rock, Smith retaliated with a brief slap and not a frustratingly lengthy combo of attacks that would ultimately result in his death.
The memes have acknowledged this comparison:
https://twitter.com/AdamKezer/status/1508347189969534977
Comparisons were also made between Chris Rock and White Mask Varre, an Elden Ring NPC notable for really rubbing it in that the player is “maidenless.” One Reddit user used Smith and Rock’s face-off to express their frustrations:
We all wanted to do this right?
byu/TheEasySqueezy inEldenring
Here are the best of the rest of the memes so far:
https://twitter.com/VillarosaArts/status/1508287140689448960
Nobody:
Will Smith after finding out about Rivers of Blood and Moonveil:#willsmithchrisrock #Oscars2022 #ELDENRING pic.twitter.com/LtmC5FQSSs
— Randy Lee (@RannyRee) March 28, 2022
chris rock steps on a red summon sign
byu/plagueofnothing inEldenring
— Iron Pineapple (@IronPineapple_) March 26, 2022
They be tough
by inEldenring
And a little Far Cry 6 for your troubles, too:
https://twitter.com/TrickyTeun/status/1508379248976932874
Will Smith took home the Best Actor award by the end of the night for his performance in King Richard, though his behavior surely overshadowed what should have been a triumphant moment. So it’s kind of like when you beat Godrick for the first time, then — sure, it feels nice to win, but after you’ve already died 68 times and told him to take your wife’s name out of his fucking mouth on international television, it’s a pretty hollow victory.
In other news, it’s been revealed why Master Chief had to show his face in the Paramount TV series. Grand Theft Auto 5 has also received a controversial subscription service for its GTA Online mode.
