No, Chris Rock Wasn't Wearing A 'Cheek Pad' -- And Other WILD Will Smith Oscars Slap Conspiracy Theories

perezhilton.com:

While much of the internet continues to unpack the actions of Will Smith at the 2022 Oscars and what it means about the state of Hollywood and society in general, another group has become hell bent on proving it was nothing but a big conspiracy.

And most of the conclusions those conspiracy theorists have come to are, quite frankly, more of a disappointment than The Slap itself. Related: Whoopi Goldberg — An Academy Governor — Teases ‘Big Consequences’ For Will But if you’re like us and still want to read some of these crackpot theories out of morbid curiosity, you’ve come to the right place.

Let’s dive in… Contents [hide] 1 The Cheek Pad 2 “It was staged for publicity” 3 “It was a Big Pharma conspiracy??” 4 “Chris Rock uttered the cursed word…” The Cheek Pad The most easily disproved of all the conspiracy theories is that Chris Rock was wearing a cheek pad — something we don’t think even exists outside this theory — on his face to cushion the blow.

This ludicrous idea has gained steam thanks to a photo circulating online, which you can see (below): The thing is, while it purports to be the REAL look, in “8k,” everyone watching the telecast on their HD TVs know there was no point in which Chris Rock — filmed quite close up — could be seen wearing this thing.