I wasn't following the Oscars, but the big news coming out of the 2022 awards ceremony is that Will Smith slapped the shit out of Chris Rock after Rock, as an emcee, made fun of Jada Pinkett-Smith's nearly bald "GI Jane" hairdo. Smith walked onstage and slapped Rock, forcing a "Wow!" out of Rock. Turns out Pinkett-Smith, who is Will Smith's wife, suffers from alopecia, or clinical hair loss. Chris Rock tried to justify himself by saying it was just a GI Jane joke, but Smith, back in his seat, shouted, "Keep my wife's name out of your fucking mouth!"
Was it all staged? Was it a way to punctuate the tedium and drive up Oscar ratings? Or did an enraged husband defend the honor of his afflicted wife after she'd been publicly mocked? (On Twitter, rightie commentator Matt Walsh snarked that Will Smith was just "a deranged cuckold who snapped," making me wonder what he meant by "cuckold.")
Reactions in my office varied from "I really respect Will Smith" to "They should both apologize to each other." Legally speaking, Smith opens himself up to an assault charge and lawsuits (assuming this was all real), and in a sense, he could be seen by some as participating in cancel culture: will edgy British comic Ricky Gervais ever host an awards show again, now that he knows offended people might walk out of the audience to strike him onstage in front of everybody? Gervais is verbally brave, but I suspect he's physically craven.
As for Chris Rock, he was shaken, but he managed to joke that this was "the greatest night on television." I wonder if he came back onstage after that.
The Oscars have been in decline for a long time, now. Their ratings have been plummeting as actors and filmmakers have used the stage as a soapbox to broadcast their political point of view. Actual violence just pushes the envelope back that much more. Kind of a shame that we're no longer in the golden age where people conducted themselves civilly, with dignity. I think the Rock/Smith incident will spike the ratings for this particular event, but eventually, people will come to see this onstage violence as a further sign of the Oscars' decay.
UPDATE: Chris Rock Declines to File Police Report After Will Smith Slap at Oscars, LAPD Says
Rock probably realizes he went too far, and I doubt he wants to start a feud with Will Smith.
The joke wasn't worthy of the slap. Hell, Smith laughed at it. Making fun of someone's appearance isn't cool, but then again, Mrs. Smith could have wigged up if being shaved bothers her. The way Rock handled the situation shows he has much more class the Smith will ever possess. I lost a lot of respect for him after watching this act of violence.
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