Slap Day 2025: From Kangana to Govinda, a look at slapping incidents involving celebs
As the Anti-Valentine's Week begins with Slap Day today, here's a reminder that a smackdown can make headlines that last forever
While the much-celebrated Valentine's Week is about all things mushy, not many people know that February 15 is observed as Slap Day. What comes foremost to your mind when you hear about it? That famous scene from Hulchul (2004) when Paresh Rawal's character gives his brother a slap so tight that he spins around and falls to the ground? Or the time when that tall, blonde woman in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) gives one of the Wet Bandits a jaw-dropping wallop? The dramatic slap you saw in an Indian soap opera? Or does it remind you of the poster of Taapsee Pannu-starrer Thappad (2020)?
Though any mention of Slap Day conjures up images of a thumping smackdown, the day has a deeper meaning. It is more about slapping away unpleasant and toxic relationships and less about striking someone across the face. However, that doesn't deter friends from playfully cuffing each other. Over the years, many slapping incidents, both on and off screen, have shocked, stunned and fascinated the public. Today, in honour of Slap Day — which marks the beginning of the Anti-Valentine's Week — we take a look at some of them.
Will Smith and Chris Rock
It was a slap heard around the world. In a jaw-dropping moment at the 2022 Oscars, actor Will Smith stormed the stage and smacked the presenter, comedian Chris Rock, for making a GI Jane-themed joke mocking his wife Jada Pinkett Smith for her shaved head. For the uninitiated, GI Jane is a 1997 movie that featured Demi Moore as a woman who had a shaved head. Notably, Jada has been vocal about her decision to shave her head amid her struggle with alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that attacks the body's hair follicles. After walking up to the stage and smacking Chris, Will casually returned to his seat.
An incredulous Chris reacted to the slap, saying, "Wow! Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me." While the remark drew laughter from the audience, who probably thought it was staged, the mood in the room soon changed as Will shouted from his seat, "Keep my wife's name out of your mouth!" While Will was not escorted out of the show and even got the chance to accept an Academy Award later in the night, he was declared persona non grata at the Oscars for ten years.
Ravi Bhatia
Unless you have been living under a rock, you must have come across an old clip of a woman on an Indian reality TV show slapping a man, only to be smacked right back. The idea of the show, Dadagiri: Beat The Bullies, which premiered in 2008, was to make the contestants have a "first-day-of-college" experience. After all, ragging is seen by many as a rite of passage. Every episode saw the contestants up against bullies who humiliated them. It was an exchange in one such episode that went viral. “Why don’t you go and f**k off then?” snarled a woman at two male contestants who refused to talk to her. One of them quipped calmly, "You go." Irked by the smirk on the man's face and his remark, the woman struck him across the face. Not one to turn the other cheek, the man paid her back in her own coin and protested, "How can she slap?" The episode sparked a fresh debate on gender equality. The contestant in question, actor Ravi Bhatia, later expressed regret about slapping her back, but he did acknowledge the outpouring of support for him.
Kangana Ranaut
Actor Kangana Ranaut, who had been newly elected as an MP from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi, was reportedly slapped during a mandatory security check at the Chandigarh airport by a female CISF constable in June last year. The incident that made national headlines was triggered by the actor's controversial remarks on the 2020 farmers' protests. A senior official later stated that the constable had smacked the loud-mouthed actor in "a rush of blood" over her past remarks. The incident added fuel to the raging controversy about farmers' demands. While the constable was transferred, she got the backing of several farmer outfits as well as public figures like singer Vishal Dadlani following her assault on Kangana.
Govinda
Picture this: You venerate a Bollywood actor and get a chance to observe him from close quarters during a shoot. But then, he unexpectedly smacks you. That's what happened with Santosh Rai, a fan of Govinda, got slapped by the actor during the shooting of Money Hai Toh Honey Hai (2008) in Mumbai. He was seated behind the cast when an altercation ensued between them, and Govinda ended up smacking him. To make things worse, the incident was captured on camera and beamed on TV screens across the country. "Imagine being struck by someone you revered as a God," Santosh later told Rediff. The case reached the Supreme Court in 2014, leading the actor to issue an unconditional apology to both the fan and the apex court in 2017.
Will Smith and Vitalii Sediuk
Chris Rock is not the only person who has been at the receiving end of a public smackdown by Will Smith. During the premiere of Men in Black 3 in Moscow in 2012, a notorious Ukrainian prankster, Vitalii Sediuk, got a little too close to the actor and learnt a lesson. When Vitalii tried to plant a kiss on Will's lips, a visibly infuriated Will pushed him back and slapped him lightly on the face with the back of his hand. "Come on, man. What the hell is your problem, buddy?" Will snapped at him. As the actor continued to walk away on the red carpet, he joked, "Sorry. He kissed me on my mouth. The joker is lucky I didn’t sucker punch him."
Mika Singh
Bollywood singer Mika Singh is no stranger to controversy. But the way he allegedly assaulted a concertgoer during a show organised by the Delhi Ophthalmological Society in the Capital in April 2015 sent shockwaves across the industry. The victim reportedly sustained an internal injury inside his left ear. And a case of causing hurt and wrongful restraint was filed against the singer after a clip of the episode surfaced on social media. Mika claimed that he slapped the doctor because he had misbehaved with some women.
Donald Trump and Vince McMahon
Way before US President Donald Trump was busy slapping tariffs on imports from other countries while sitting behind the Resolute Desk, he was known for firing contestants on his show The Apprentice. And, well, for famously smacking none other than the WWE chairman, Vince McMahon. While Trump and Vince had known each other since the 1980s, it was only in 2007 that their association gained a whole other level of prominence, thanks to the WWE's Battle of the Billionaires. As part of the event, both Trump and Vince had to choose a professional wrestler each as proxies to slug it out in the ring on their behalf. And the winner would get to shave the loser's head. It was at one of the public events organised in connection with this that Trump and Vince. Vince offered Trump a handshake in front of the cameras only to withdraw it before they could shake hands. And to add insult to injury, he played with Trump's tie and flicked him on the nose. Trump, not one to take it lying down, gave Vince a slap so tight he bounced back.
Eduardo Yáñez
In 2017, Mexican soap opera star Eduardo Yáñez lost his cool during a conversation with a reporter on the red carpet of an event in Los Angeles. It all started when Univision reporter Paco Fuentes started asking Eduardo questions about his equation with his son, Eduardo Jr. It was no secret that the father-son duo had a strained relationship. So, when the reporter started asking Eduardo about some unflattering comments his son had made about him, the actor started jabbing a finger at the journalist's face before striking him on the head.
So, how are you planning to celebrate Slap Day?