While he never should have been slapped to begin with, Chris Rock just took it like a bitch. I mean it's fairly obvious that Chris has never been Mr. Tough Guy, and quite literally uses comedy as a defense mechanism, but to just take that... It probably would have been the absolute wrong response, and there is a good chance Will Smith might be able to beat my ass, but no way I wouldn't have grabbed his arm as he turned, and pulled him back into a mean right hand. Maybe that just runs in my family, we are fairly good at putting up with bullshit, but if someone escalates to physical violence, it's like flipping a switch, and we go from zero to "it's you or me, and if it's me I'm taking a piece of you with me" in a second. Probably not a super healthy response in modern times.