At Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, actor Will Smith made headlines worldwide when he struck Chris Rock in the face after the comedian made a joke about the appearance of Smith’s wife. Reuters photojournalist Brian Snyder captured an image of the moment of impact, which quickly went viral.
Speaking to CNN, Snyder said: “Immediately afterwards my reaction was ‘did that just happen?’”
“Initially, the other photographers and I were unsure if it was a planned part of the show or something else. Once Will Smith was back at his seat and yelling back to the stage, we figured it was not part of the script. And then I started looking through my camera for reactions.”
It wasn’t Snyder’s first time covering the Oscars, but it was his most memorable to-date. You can read more about his experience on CNN.com here.
For more on Reuters first and fast coverage, visit Reuters.com.
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Heather Carpenter
heather.carpenter @ tr.com