People are turning the moment Will Smith slapped Chris Rock into a permanent memory with tattoos.
Tattoo artist Jon Arton found it “hilarious” when someone asked to get the infamous outburst tattooed on his leg recently.
“I thought, let’s do it. It’s hilarious,” the Birmingham tattoo artist told SWNS. “It’s quite small and discreet – if it wasn’t I probably wouldn’t have done it.”
Arton spoke to British radio station Heart about the tattoo for a segment on the weirdest thing he has been asked to do at work.
Having been a tattoo artist for three years and specializing in hyper-realistic portraits, Arton said he was happy to oblige.
Arton isn’t alone with the seemingly odd request: A tattoo artist in New Jersey also received a request for the unique tattoo, shocking many online.
Oscar Aguilar Jr. shared a video on his Instagram of the finished product, which has been reposted to TikTok with nearly 15,000 views as of Tuesday.
Commenters were quick to call the tattoo “unnecessary,” “childish” and “so dumb.”
“Did that not happen like two days ago?” an Instagram commenter added.
The moment has been etched into infamy worldwide, too. Italian tattoo artist Giovanni Bracciodieta posted a picture of another tattoo of the controversial moment on Instagram with the caption, “Violence is never justified.”
The post had over 37,000 likes as of Tuesday morning.
Smith slapped Rock on stage at the Oscars after Rock joked that he couldn’t wait to see Jada Pinkett Smith in “G.I. Jane 2.”
Rock was referencing Pinkett’s hair loss condition, alopecia. She shaved her head last year.
The slap has since gone viral, with memes taking over social media shortly after.
“Saturday Night Live” also mocked the slap in a sketch taking place at the Oscars, as well as on “Weekend Update” and in host Jerrod Carmichael’s opening monologue.
“I think we should just acknowledge that that is one of the craziest things we will ever see in our lives. It’s truly like the Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction, but if Janet’s nipple slapped Timberlake,” Colin Jost joked on “Weekend Update.”
Smith took to Instagram to publicly apologize and resigned from the Academy.
While celebrities and Americans are divided about the out-of-the-blue moment, Arton said he feels there is no right or wrong.
“It’s a weird, interesting and crazy thing – I don’t think there’s a right or wrong side, it’s just an interesting thing some celebrities have done,” Arton said.
