Will Smith gets slapped in "Bad Boys 4" in hilarious reference to Oscars incident

In "Bad Boys: Ride or Die," Will Smith's character, Mike Lowrey, is repeatedly slapped by Martin Lawrence's character, Marcus Burnett, during a scene.

The scene seems to pay homage to Smith's notorious Oscars moment from two years ago, where he strode onto the stage during the awards ceremony and slapped Chris Rock in front of a global audience.

During the intense action sequence, Smith's character, Mike, is experiencing a mild-panic attack when Lawrence's character, Marcus, his detective partner, resorts to multiple slaps to snap him out of it.

The scene, intended for comedic effect, elicited audible reactions from audiences during advance screenings, with viewers seemingly linking it to the Oscars incident.

In his critique for Variety, reviewer Owen Gleiberman characterized it as an explicit callback to the Oscars incident, labeling the scene as "a kind of pop exorcism."

Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the directors behind the 2020 sequel "Bad Boys for Life," revealed to UNILAD that the script for the latest installment was still evolving following the Oscars incident, with real-life events influencing the storyline.

"I think, you know, if you watch the movie you see that there are some parallels between what's happening in the movie and real life," they expressed to the outlet, further stating, "There's almost like a meta experience that Will in the character of Mike Lowrey goes through with some themes."

The directors remarked, “So obviously it had something, there is a connection between real life and the story of the movie in the movie itself."

Bad Boys: Ride or Die hits theaters on June 7th.