Australian author appears to predict Will Smith's Oscar slap hours before it happened

It has been hours since the "ugliest night" in Oscars history and social media users are still going head-to-head on whether Will Smith's slap was justified.

The King Richard actor headed to the stage when Chris Rock made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, referencing her alopecia. Smith slapped the comedian before proclaiming: "Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth."

Well, now, Twitter has speculated that Australian author, Christos Tsiolkas, predicted the Oscars' chaos days ahead of the ceremony. In a piece titled 'An elegy for the once-great Oscars', Tsiolkas penned his candid thoughts surrounding the "outdated" event.

"Does anyone really care about the Oscars anymore?" He quizzed before launching into his experience watching the Oscars as a teenager.

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He wrote: "It's been a long time since the ceremony has been screened on prime-time in Australia. The timeslot keeps getting shunted, and large chunks of the awards are truncated to make room for ads.

"The assumption is that we are all watching it streamed. On the phone or the laptop … The sense of occasion is diminished. The very form is outdated."

Ironically, the author penned a 2008 novel called The Slap – and many Twitter users are making light out of the irony. The plot follows a man who slaps a child which sends shockwaves through the community.

Tsiolkas also penned that "comperes now are superfluous to the proceedings and the acceptance speeches are a form of speed-reading".

"Even the controversies have become boring," he wrote.

"The bookies have Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog as the frontrunner but my gut tells me Belfast will get the gong. It is sentimental and it's slick, and maybe some things about the Oscars will never change."

"It would be nice to be proved wrong."

It's safe to say he was.

Smith has since posted took to Instagram in a lengthy statement and publicly apologised to Rock.

"My behaviour at last night's Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable," he wrote. "Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada's medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.

"I would like to publicly apologise to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.

"There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness."

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