Will Smith Uncensored at the Oscars....

[Joe Guy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ns9P4rbBrg

[Bicycle Bill]

Niggahs being niggahs.  At least he didn't pull a gun and pop a cap on his ass.

-"BB"-

[Gob]

The funniest thing about the whole incident is Chris Rock being called "a comedian".

[Scooter]

Really, Bill? Because you think only a Black man might be so incensed at someone "joking" about his wife's medical condition, that he would resort to violence?

I think Will Smith made the wrong choice by resorting to violence. And I think that Chris Rock absolutely deserved it for engaging in violence of his own. Both of those things can be true.

[Gob]

I think Rock deserves slapping for pretending to be a comedian.

[BoSoxGal]

I can’t decide which is more sickening - Smith resorting to violence over a joke which while maybe in poor taste was not in any way shape or form provocative of violence; or Smith's son immediately sharing to social media ‘that’s how we roll’ in response to his dad’s public assault - gives one some idea of what values were being taught in the Smith household.

My opinion of Smith has changed utterly. Ditto my opinion of the many people who comforted Smith after he committed a public assault. Really?

This whole episode is a stark reminder of how violence is glorified and normalized in our society. That’s why there is so much violence in our homes which morphs into violence in our streets.

Ugh.

[Big RR]

I am not a fan of Chris Rock, but I think it was staged; even on the internet the slap doesn't look real. It was no stupider than a lot of things at the ceremony with people walking around the audience making quips much less funny than what Rock said. But then, Smith might have been drunk, as his rambling, crocodile tear-laden, acceptance speech indicated.

And while we're a it, if the academy is going to do an in memorian tribute and commissioned a collection of film clips, why not let the audience watch it instead of pulling back to look at the chorus and dancers (or, if it wanted them to be the show, why have a film playing so far in the background that you couldn't read it (even on big TVs)?

[Big RR]

I just read the LA police are trying to track Will Smith down for questioning. They're not sure where he is, but they're following the fresh prints.

[ex-khobar Andy]

I used to find Chris Rock funny maybe 20 years ago but I really have not been paying attention. But then I used to think Ricky Gervais was funny - and it's him that's changed, not me because I still find those UK Office episodes funny.

I think Smith was clearly wrong here. Watch the clips - and I assume they have not been edited - but he appears to have been laughing at the 'joke' until Jada PS signaled that she wasn't happy. She used to be a drug dealer in her Baltimore days. That does not excuse rudeness or insensitivity on Rock's part but let's not pretend we had some sort of innocent babe here. Smith, in his acceptance speech for Best Actor, talked about 'protecting' his co-star Aunjanue Ellis (she played Venus and Serena's mother Oracene) and that might give a clue about his attitude to women.

[BoSoxGal]

I just read the LA police are trying to track Will Smith down for questioning. They're not sure where he is, but they're following the fresh prints.

They should be checking Chris Rock’s face.

I’d like to see the prosecutor of LA County have some balls and bring charges against Smith absent Rock’s report. We all saw it, so did millions around the world. It’s an assault, plain and simple - and Smith should be held accountable like anybody else would be.

[BoSoxGal]

Smith, in his acceptance speech for Best Actor, talked about 'protecting' his co-star Aunjanue Ellis (she played Venus and Serena's mother Oracene) and that might give a clue about his attitude to women.

He’s a survivor of domestic violence - he watched his father beat the shit out of his mother as a 9 year old and did nothing to protect her, something he says in his autobiography is a driving force in his life - his guilt over being a coward.

How incredibly toxic that he works out his guilt on Chris Rock’s face over a nothing joke and sets the example for millions of young men of all races that toxic masculinity and violence are how to honor women.

Will Smith needs therapy. I think anger management court ordered under his conviction for assault would be entirely appropriate.

[Joe Guy]

What the linked video doesn't show is Will Smith laughing at the joke before he looked over and realized his wife didn't think the joke was funny. He probably figured it was better to get up and slap Chris Rock than to get slapped by Jada.

btw - I wonder when Sean Penn is going to smelt his Oscars.

[Scooter]

Will Smith deserves everything that the law and the Academy can throw at him. Ok?

But please stop referring to Rock's dig as a "nothing joke". Black women's hair is tied inexorably to their identity and to their experience of discrimination. Rock would know that better than almost anyone, having produced a documentary on that very subject.

So what we have is Rock, knowing the significance of their hair to Black women, and therefore knowing that Smith's hair loss was an open wound, deciding to rub salt into it. He knew it was going to hurt and he did it anyway, meaning that he intentionally set out to do Jada Pinkett Smith an injury. And he got injured in return.

Believing that Will Smith deserves punishment for what he did in no way means that Chris Rock didn't deserve what he got, and then some.

[Scooter]

What the linked video doesn't show is Will Smith laughing at the joke before he looked over and realized his wife didn't think the joke was funny.

Or his laughter was continuing from something that was said previously and that morphed into uncomfortable "laughter" when his wife became the target of a verbal assault framed as a "joke", which then turned to anger when it sunk in.

Or, like some have claimed, the entire thing was staged, so any reactions were just "acting" and don't convey any real meaning.

Amateur psychology is so much fun, isn't it?

[Scooter]

[Guinevere]

[BoSoxGal]

There in no equivalence between bad comedy and physical violence. Hard to believe that’s even being suggested by so many but just more evidence of how much we have normalized violence in our society and why people get assaulted by strangers in the workplace more and more frequently these days.

Actors always get roasted at the Oscars and some jokes are in poor taste. Does not justify violence.

eta: I’ve read many places today including NYT, Globe, Daily Mail, Facebook etc. Lots of comments from people with alopecia who didn’t think the joke was even that bad, and definitely not justifying the response.

He didn’t mock her hair loss. He said she looked beautiful, he loved her and maybe she should consider GI Jane 2. How is that even insulting? That was a terrific empowering female role and performance by Demi Moore. Jada would rock a role like that, too.

[Joe Guy]

I don't know if Chris knew Jada has a hair/health problem. I sure didn't. She's obviously not afraid to go out in public with a shaved head and she's far from the first woman to do it. She also wouldn't be the first person to wear a wig if she thought it would look better.

I don't see anything wrong what Chris Rock said, even if he did know she has alopecia. He's a comedian. He wasn't making fun of her. He was joking that she could make a GI Jane movie. Also, I bet at least half the men here have alopecia and Will Smith wouldn't slap Chris Rock for them. His stupid stunt has lowered further whatever high standards the Academy Award Show may have had left.

Yul Brynner is spinning in his grave....

[Scooter]

Will Smith: Behavior Was 'Unacceptable & Inexcusable' Following Oscars Slap
By Kelly Fisher

March 28, 2022


Will Smith took to Instagram on Monday (March 28) to share a lengthy statement in response to slapping comedian Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars on Sunday (March 27). The incident came after Rock told a joke referencing Smith’s wife. Smith wrote:

Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.

I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.

I would also like to apologize to the Academy, the producers of the show, all the attendees and everyone watching around the world. I would like to apologize to the Williams Family and my King Richard Family. I deeply regret that my behavior has stained what has been an otherwise gorgeous journey for all of us.

I am a work in progress.

[Joe Guy]

FWIW - A quote from Jada Smith from a few days ago:

“Being a Black woman and dealing with hair in Hollywood, especially in the era that I came up in, having your hair look as European as possible was always the thing,” she says in the video. “That was really challenging you know because I liked my hair out wild and curly. but nobody wanted that. so I always had to do my hairs in ways that didn’t feel natural to me because of trying to play the game. So if I’m doing a cover, everybody’s all, no we want your hair straight and flow. It’s like alright, cool, but that’s not really what my hair likes to do. So I had to learn to get the courage to go, nah I’m not doing it, which is why I feel the freedom today, I don’t give two craps what people feel about this bald head of mine. Cuz guess what? I love it.”

Okay, now that we've settled that I want to see Sean Penn's promised video of him smelting his Oscars....