right now on "america this morning," the slap seen around the world. >> oh, wow. >> will smith hitting comedian chris rock at the oscars and then lashing out. why he was so angry and what you didn't see. plus, what the lapd is saying this morning. a new plan for peace in ukraine. what president zelenskyy is offering to the russians as peace talks resume today. plus, the new victories being claimed by ukraine. a major new lockdown overseas about another concern about a spike in covid cases. meanwhile, here at home, the announcement expected about a

fourth covid-19 vaccine shot. the final four is set. the st. peter's cinderella story may have come to an end, but why the peacocks are still sitting pretty. and we're live in hollywood with the biggest and best oscar night moments. good morning, everyone. we begin with an oscars ceremony no one will forget. >> will smith walked on stage and hit comedian chris rock. we're learning more. >> the moment is overshadowing what was an historic night including for will smith who took home his first oscar. we're in hollywood where police say chris rock is not pressing

charges. morgan, good morning. >> reporter: that confrontation one of the most shocking moments in oscar history. real-life drama at the oscars. will smith slapping chris rock on stage after rock made a joke about will's wife. >> jada, i love you. gi jane two, can't wait to see you. >> reporter: seconds later will smith walks on stage and strikes rock. >> oh, wow. wow. will smith just smacked the [ bleep ] out of me. >> reporter: back at his seat he continued to yell at the comedian. >> keep my wife's name out your [ bleep ] mouth. >> i'm going to. okay. >> reporter: less than one hour later will smith returned to the

stage to accept the first oscar of his career. richa >> richard williams was a fierce defender of his family. >> reporter: will smith apologized to the academy in his acceptance speech, but did not mention rock. >> denzel said to me at your highest moment, be careful. that's when the devil comes for you. i want to be an ambassador of that kind of love and care and concern. i want to apologize to the academy. i want to apologize to my fellow nominees. this is a beautiful moment.

>> reporter: the lapd says it's aware of the incident but no charges have been filed because the individual involved has declined to file a police report. >> and the oscar goes to -- >> "coda." >> reporter: "coda" won the night's biggest prize, best picture and troy ckotsur took home best supporting role. as he accepted the award the star-studded audience rose to their feet. >> this is dedicated to the deaf community, the "coda" community, this is our moment. >> reporter: as for will smith and chris rock they were set to attend "variety's" after party. no word if that happened. >> the rift between chris rock and will smith may have been brewing for years.

smith was still mad after this joke. >> jada is going to boycott the oscars. jada boycotting the oscars is like me boycotting rihanna's panties. i wasn't invited. >> the academy said they don't condone violence of any form. we're excited to celebrate our 94 academy awards winners who deserve this recognition. more from the oscars later ghe funniest moments and top fashion. president zelenskyy is now offering terms for a peace deal with russia. it comes as president biden addresses a remark that he made over the weekend in which he appeared to call for vladimir putin to be removed from power. abc's em nguyen is here now with the latest. >> reporter: ukraine's president is offering a potential new path to peace as his military claims

new victories over the russians. ukrainian president zelenskyy offering a compromise to end the war with russia with peace talks between the two countries set to resume today. [speaking foreign language] in a new interview with independent russian journalists zelenskyy said ukraine is prepared to discuss adopting a neutral status and not join nato. ukraine would keep its nonnuclear status as long as it gets security guarantees from other countries. in exchange zelenskyy ruled out trying to recapture the territory in eastern ukraine that's been held by russian-backed forces since 2014. zelenskyy also appeared to grow more frustrated with the u.s., accusing the west of lacking the courage to take on putin. meanwhile, ukrainian forces claim they've retaken towns and villages in the north and east. this weekend suspected russian

missiles hit this oil depo in the western city of lviv. abc's james longman is there. >> you can see the flames there burning. the city was meant to be a sanctuary for thousands. now it feels like the war has come to them. >> reporter: back in washington president biden is denying he called for regime change in russia after making this comment at the end of a speech in poland this weekend. >> for god's sake this man cannot remain in power. >> reporter: the white house quickly clarifying, saying the administration has no strategy of regime change. >> mr. president, do you want putin removed? >> reporter: leaving church last night in washington, the president was asked if he was calling for putin to be ousted. his answer was loud and clear. >> mr. president, were you calling for regime change? >> no. >> reporter: ukraine's intelligence chief said he believes the russians are trying to cut the country in half.

at least seven russian generals have reportedly died on the battlefield. president biden is expected to unveil a billionaire's tax today. sources say he wants to require households with more than $100 million to pay a tax rate of 20%. more than half of the revenue would come from billionaires. evacuation orders for more than 20,000 people in boulder, colorado, have been lifted. crews have contained one third of the wildfire in the area. we turn to the pandemic and word that covid booster shots for people over 50 could be authorized tomorrow. meanwhile, china is imposing a major new lockdown. in washington, another white house staffer tested positive.

here's rhiannon ally. >> reporter: one day after meeting with president biden white house deputy press secretary has tested positive for covid saying she last saw the president during a socially distanced meeting saturday and the president is not considered a close contact. jen psaki tested positive just last week. the fda could authorize covid booster shots for people over age 50 as soon as tomorrow. it comes as infection rates tick up in the northeast due to the omicron subvariant ba.2. >> while we have limited information about the value of a second booster, we do know a surge is likely to come. it's better to of a second surge. fda experts will meet early next month to talk about the broader

population. >> the jury is still out on the timing, but we know that getting people protected ahead of a surge is incredibly important rather than getting people vaccinated in the middle of a surge. >> reporter: china is imposing a new lockdown in shanghai, home to 26 million people, facing a surge in covid cases. it's the biggest lockdown since the pandemic began. already this morning global oil prices are down due to the expected drop in demand in china. mona, andrew? time for a look at your monday weather. bundle up. it feels more like january from the great lake tos to the northeast. new england waking up to single digit windchills. looking ahead to tomorrow,

severe storms expected in the middle of the country. tornados could hit from kansas city to central texas. 80s across the deep south today. around 60 in the pacific northwest. coming up, the father of four killed by a grizzly bear. what we're learning about the death of foo fighters' drummer taylor

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scary moments in formula one racing. mick schumacher got into this ugly crash for the saudi arabian grand prix. he's been released from the hospital and says that he is

okay. the second black box has been recovered from that boeing 737 that crashed this china. the flight data recorder was found buried at the crash site. chinese officials confirmed over the weekend that none of the 132 souls on board survived zblrj. a deadly bear attack in montana. the 40-year-old father of four was attacked during a hiking trip after separating from a friend. a gofundme page has been set up. new information on the death of taylor hawkins. the initial toxicology report found ten drugs in his system including opiates and anti-depressan anti-depressants. an official cause of death has not been determined. the band canceled the rest of its south american tour. joan joyce is being

remembered for her legendary softball career. she won more than joyce famously struck out ted williams and hank aaron and was happy to talk about it. >> in my lifetime i won 750 games. i pitched 150 no hitters. striking out ted williams which was the easiest thing to do. >> she also played professional golf. she died over the weekend at 81 years old. >> she was an fau legend. salute. coming up, controversial comments from an executive at applebees. the march madness cinderella story may be over. story may be over. we'll explain why t

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back now with prices at the pump finally falling. the average price for a gallon of gas dropped six cents in the last two weeks after months of price hikes. americans are now paying an average of $4.37 a gallon. that's $1.42 higher than a year ago. appleby's is facing backlash after a memo. he said they could pay workers lower wages thanks to. at least three managers in the midwest reportedly quit because of the memo. the company says it's only one person's opinion. it says workers are its life blood. we turn to march madness. the final four is set, and it's promising another historic matchup. the clock may have struck midnight and the cinderella story may be over. >> north carolina is heading back to the final four. >> but saint peter's gets to leave the ncaa tournament with

their heads held high. >> words can't describe what we did out there. >> just to do what we did is just incredible. >> we're going to walk out the same way we walked in, with our head up. >> the peacocks losing to north carolina. the 15th seeded team becoming the lowest ever to advance to the elite eight. saint peter's run made even more incredible considering how small the school's athletic budget in. in 2020, saint peter's spent just over $7 million on its athletic programs. for comparison, number two ranked kentucky, which fell victim to the peacocks, spend more than $138 million. but now it's on to the final four and more history to be made. unc is set to face duke. the two teams form one of the biggest rivalries in all of sports. they faced each other 257 times, but this will be the first ever matchup in the ncaa tournament. >> i think we're scheduled to leave on wednesday. i'd like to leave tonight. i want to get there tonight. >> reporter: the big question now, will coach k., in his final

season, punch a ticket to his tenth championship game, or will his career end at the hands of a bitter rival? let's not forget about the other final four game. number two villanova takes on the remaining number one seed, kansas. that game is on saturday. coming up, the biggest moments from the academy awards. when we come back, the moments that didn't involve that smack, from the history to the fashion. fashion. that's next. i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are getting clearer, i feel free ♪ ♪ to bare my skin ♪ ♪ yeah, that's all me ♪ ♪ nothing and me go hand in hand ♪ ♪ nothing on my skin, that's my new plan ♪ ♪ nothing is everything ♪ achieve clearer with skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. of those, nearly 9 out 10 sustained it through 1 year. and skyrizi is 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. ♪ i see nothing in a different way ♪ ♪ it's my moment so i just gotta say ♪ ♪ nothing is everything ♪

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three women to host because it's ea hiring one man. >> amy schumer, regina hall, and wanda sykes not shying away from politics. >> for you people in florida, we're going to have a gay night. gay, gay, gay. >> at one point, the hosts coming out as different characters from different movies. >> you was supposed to be venus. >> i know. i am venus as tammy faye. >> where's amy? amy's supposed to be serena. >> i'm right here. >> what the hell? >> the only thing hotter than the hosts, the looks on the red carpet. maya rudolph in valentino. tiffany and haddish in dolce & gabbana, and jen garner in brandon maxwell. back at the show, lady gaga gaining praise for this moment with liza minnelli, who was having trouble delivering her lines. >> you see that? >> yeah. >> the public, they love you. >> oh, yes. now what am i -- i don't understand. >> i got it. >> but the night's biggest was

the slap heard around the world. >> oh, wow. >> will smith striking chris rock after the comedian made a joke about smith's wife. schumer then received the task of trying to lighten the mood. >> i've been getting out of that spider-man costume. did i miss anything? >> reporter: the lapd says rock has declined to file charges. the reaction in hollywood coming i overnight. maria shriver tweeting, coat, will smith says he wants to be a vessel for love. love is not violent. love is not what was displayed on a global stage tonight. and rob reiner writing, quote, will smith owes chris rock a huge apology. there is no excuse for what he did. he's lucky chris is not filing assault charges. but will smith's son, jaden tweeting in support of his dad, saying in a tweet, and that's how we do it. "the new york post" reports will smith could be asked to hand back his oscar because of the academy's code of conduct. > and here's "the new york

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will smith appearing to slap chris rock. how fans are reacting. >> crews breaking down the set and red carpet. highlights coming up. jobina: scattered showers. taking a live look outside. rain finally returns. drew is tracking the storm. reggie: we are going to talk about the rain, but i still check about the oscars. jobina: did you all think the sound one out on your tv? reggie: i have been thinking about it all night. we will talk about it some more, but first, the rain. drew: we barely saw chris rock ship. he was silenced.