There's like 15 seconds from Chris Rock making the joke to getting slapped. It's not really a big pause.
And what motive would they possibly have to fake it? Why would two hugely successful people damage their reputations for some stupid angle to prop up a dull awards ceremony?
Its not just an awards ceremony. Its
THE awards ceremony. The single most important one in Hollywood, both for actors, and for investing in films. It used to be movies that won academy awards saw huge spikes in sales. And actors, directors, crew, had careers made on Oscars because of how important they were to the general public. People used to have watch parties, and hold contests to see who wins want. Producing a movie that won an Oscar was also a massive bonus payout for producers, because of how prestigious the awards were.
This years Oscars ceremony had less than half of last year's record low viewership. What would the headlines have been if Will and Chris didn't have their little skit? "Oscars hits all-time low" "Hollywood celebrates itself: No one else does" "Why are the Oscars still around?" "Oscars: The last holdover of the Golden Years of Hollywood". It would have been nothing but disaster, financially, for a lot of studio executives and producers.
Instead there's a flurry of tweets and articles about how Will Smith assaults Chris Rock, boy howdy those Oscars are still worth watching!
Its all fake. A publicity stunt. Actors fake feuds with other actors to get media attention, because in Hollywood all publicity is good publicity. And it worked. People legitimately believe it was real, and now think the Oscars are some sort of reality TV show and will tune in next year just in case Halley Berry gets into a mud-wrestling fight with Sandra Bullock.