Lupita Nyong’o goes viral as she sits inches from Will Smith amid his meltdown at the Oscars

The former Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner looked stunned as she sat deafeningly close to Will as he yelled, “Keep my wife’s name out of your friggin’ mouth!” at Chrisrock

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Oscars: Will Smith slams Chris Rock after joking about Jada

Lupita Nyong’o sat right next to Will Smith in the front row of the Oscar drama and her reaction was caught on camera as she watched the star storm onto the stage to smack Chris Rock.

Drama erupted at the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday night when comedian Chris, 57, made an ill-considered joke about Will’s wife, 50, Jada Pinkett Smith.

The comedian – who was on stage to present the Oscar for Best Documentary – took aim at Jada, branding her a ‘GI Jane 2’ for her bald appearance and cruelly poking fun at her as she was forced to turn her head to shave after suffering from alopecia.

But gasps soon followed as 53-year-old Will stormed the stage, approached Chris and punched him square in the face – he returned to his seat and repeatedly shouted: “Keep my wife’s name out of your friggin’ mouth! ”

Former Oscar winner Lupita – who won best supporting actress in 2014 for her role in 12 Years A Slave and attended the gong awards ceremony for best costume design in 2022 – looked horrified as she witnessed Will’s outbursts.

Cameras caught the 39-year-old star looking incredibly uncomfortable as she sat inches from Will as he raged at Chris Rock on stage.

Her response went viral, with many sharing screenshots of their stunned reaction on social media. One wrote: “Give Lupita Best Supporting Actress for her work tonight.”

And another pointed out that the star has now become “part of two (2) iconic Oscars moments,” highlighting that she was also in Ellen DeGeneres’ social media-breaking selfie from the 2014 ceremony at the time.

Will’s reaction has been divided, with some pitting him for adopting a chivalrous stance to defend his wife’s honor, while others have condemned his actions as violent behavior.

The actor himself attended Sunday night’s event, where he was nominated and won the Best Actor award for his role as Richard Williams in the tennis biopic King Richard.

Later that evening, Will accepted his award and tearfully said, “I want to apologize to the academy, I want to apologize to all my fellow applicants.”

He continued, “This is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying to win an award, it’s not to win an award for me, it’s to be able to shine a light on all people.

“Art mimics life, I look like the crazy dad just like they said about Richard Williams, but love will make you do crazy things.”

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Police Department confirmed they will not arrest Will as Chris has declined to press charges.

A spokesman for the force said they were “aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program …[which] one person slaps another”.

“The person concerned has declined to file a police report. If the party involved desires a police report at a later date, the LAPD is available to prepare an investigative report.”

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