Ayanna Pressley deletes tweet praising Will Smith after Chris Rock slap

Last night, the world of entertainment was left in shock after an on-air altercation between actor Will Smith and comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars.

The incident began when Rock made a joke on stage about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith having a bald head, calling her GI Jane.

Pinkett Smith suffers from hair loss due to the autoimmune disease alopecia and her husband reacted to the inappropriate joke by walking onto the stage and slapping Rock around the face.

The incident quickly went viral, with people posting their reactions to the assault on Twitter moments after it happened.

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Representative Ayanna Pressley is one person who appears to have tweeted in defence of Smith before quickly deleting the tweet.

A screengrab of what was posted before she deleted it has been shared online by journalist Grace Panetta and shows Pressley supporting Smith for defending his wife with alopecia.

She wrote: “#Alopecia nation stand up! Thank you #WillSmith Shout out to all the husbands who defend the wives living with alopecia in the face of daily ignorance & insults.

“#Oscars Women with baldies are for real men only. Boys need not apply.”

Pressley revealed in 2020 that she suffers from alopecia, but her praise for Smith assaulting Rock was quickly taken down as it appears she thought better of it.

One person said: “Assault isn't justified, sorry. I love Ayanna but she's wrong here.”

But someone else defended her, writing: “She feels the pain and insults. She was reacting at the moment. Hairloss is painful.”

After the shocking incident, Smith went on to win the Oscar for best actor for his performance in King Richard.

During his acceptance speech, he apologised to the Academy and his fellow nominees for his actions.

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