So Today day at the Oscars American actor Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage. This was after a joke about his wife’s, Jada Pinkett Smith, medical condition--Alopecia (which is the medical term for baldness). This has created an uproar on social media, with two different camps going at each other (the perfect distraction on a Monday morning, don't you think?). A lot of questions have been raised:
Was Will’s slap justified?
My takes: All that transpired yesterday was mainly a reflection of a brewing beef between the Smiths and Chris Rock for the past six years. Yesterday was only the perfect opportunity to act on that beef and I will say Chris shot himself in the leg here. I guess he wasn’t expecting Will to react in the way he did. Will has been on the receiving of public humiliation and he has taken it all in his strides. I guess he wanted the world to see a different side of him.
A quick back story, 6 years ago a group of black actors boycotted the Oscars. Their grievance was that the award had snubbed black actors for over 88 years. Chris Rock happened to have hosted the Oscars that year and made a lot of jokes about the issues, and the Smiths, which must have left some bad blood between both parties.
Fast forward to yesterday, Rock decided to take another cheap shot at the Smiths. This time it earned him a slap. To be fair, it was quite a mild joke that did not warrant Will's reaction. Worst things have been said about the Smiths so I was shocked by Will’s reaction. I guess the man was fed up with all the jokes and memes about him and his family. Unfortunately, he had to set an example with Chris.
In my opinion, that slap had nothing to do with defending his wife or family. It was only a perfect excuse to react and Will over-reacted because his action was disproportionate to the supposed aggression/trigger, and he did so on one of the most important nights of his life. Will Smith will not be remembered as the Best Actor at the 94th Academy Award, but as the man who slapped a comedian over a joke.
Will the jokes stop?
Certainly not! In showbiz, the best way to kill a subject is by ignoring it completely. WIll just show he could be rattled and many more will come for him and his family. Plus he publicly assaults a public figure, which will certainly not go down well with his fanbase. In the next few weeks, we will see people pull out clips, tweets, etc to build arguments about the subject. I did not even know about Chris’ monologue six years ago at the Oscar until today.
Chris Rock has refused to press assault charges against Will Smith, which in my opinion has made him the bigger man in this situation. He did show some level of professionalism on stage after the incident which I must commend. As we can see, not everyone can maintain their composure after being violated either verbally or physically.
I do not believe in violence. I have seen how people die over the pettiest of things. This might seem over the top but what if Chris had slumped after the incident or retaliated, making a fool of both black men on national television. It certainly would be a different conversation we would be having. It won’t matter if he was defending his family or not.
Also, I hate this narrative that Will was defending his wife. It is quite appalling how we tend to justify toxic behaviour when it suits our agenda. I also hate the fact that men have to be put in such an awkward position. Clearly from the clips, WIll found that whole joke funny and only switched when he noticed his wife did not. I guess in his bid not to appear weak he overreacted. He would have simply addressed the issues during his speech or even opted to take the stage to express his discontent with the joke. That would have sent a stronger message.
Also, this sets the black community back. They've clamoured for so long to be recognized and accepted in a supposed white-dominated sphere and this is what one of the most powerful black men in the industry does with his platform. This whole incident has opened a can of worms and is going to bring up a lot of important conversations this week. One of such questions will be; Are entertainers safe to perform? What stops the next person from going on stage to assault an entertainer for saying something they do not like? I find this quite disturbing.
What are your thoughts? Share with me in the comment section.
