FACT FOCUS: False claims spread in aftermath of Oscars slap

CLAIM: A photo shows actress Nicole Kidman gasping in reaction to Smith slapping Rock at the Oscars.

THE FACTS: The photo was captured hours before Smith slapped Rock, during the non-televised portion of the awards ceremony. According to the photographer who captured the image, Kidman was responding to the sight of her fellow nominee for best actress, Jessica Chastain, who later won the award. The photo of Kidman sitting in the audience at the Oscars — arm outstretched and mouth open — spread quickly online moments after Smith and Rock’s confrontation. “‘The Slap’ was so powerful it made Nicole Kidman’s face move for the first time in 11 years,” one Twitter user wrote, sharing the photo of Kidman that has now become a popular meme. “Nicole Kidman reacting to (asterisk)that slap(asterisk) is all of us this morning scrolling through Twitter,” an Irish magazine wrote on Instagram. But as the New York Magazine blog Vulture reported on Monday, the photo was actually captured during the non-televised part of the ceremony, hours before the slap happened. It had appeared on Twitter as early as 7:34 p.m. EDT. The televised portion of the Oscars began at 8:00 p.m. EDT. “Nicole Kidman reacts to seeing fellow nominee Jessica Chastain inside the Dolby Theatre on Sunday night,” reads a Los Angeles Times caption for the image, which was captured by L.A. Times photographer Myung Chun. Chun confirmed in an email to the AP that his photo metadata shows he snapped the image at 7:19 p.m. EDT, which was about three hours before the encounter between Smith and Rock. “It seemed to me that Nicole Kidman was reacting to seeing Jessica Chastain across the room during the non-televised event,” he stated, adding: “She reached out with both arms and waved her hands at her. Shortly thereafter, Chastain came over to meet Kidman and her husband Keith Urban.” Chastain went on to win best actress for her role in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” in which she portrays the rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker.