She appears to have hit him first, so his equal-force-applied physical rebuttal is perfectly fine.
In this Equality (Clown) World, that’s the expectation, yeah?
You can’t have it both ways.
Regardless, a couple of middle-aged goobers drinking too much at an obnoxious shindig and becoming jarred loose from appropriate behaviour.
Kiss and make up and call it even.
Case closed.