At this point, I’m convinced the whole thing was a ruse to get people talking about the Oscars again.
Honestly, I’m embarrassed for Will Smith. Slapping your fellow celebrity (Chris Rock) on live television is bad enough, but to cuss him out afterward? Yikes.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then crawl out of that rock you’re hiding under — slowly, the sight of the sun may hurt your eyes.
Jokes aside, Smith’s behavior is not a display of bravery, defense or masculinity. Instead, it resembles something akin to a middle school boy picking a fight with a classmate because he said something snarky about “his girl.”
While some may find it admirable that Smith so willingly defended his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, if we dig a little deeper, you’ll see just how immature Will Smith’s actions were.
For starters, it was live TV. Not sure about y’all, but if I knew I was being filmed for all the world to see, I would not go slapping anyone with reckless abandon. Actions speak louder than words, and Smith’s actions told me, and everyone else who witnessed the incident, that he acted childish and insecure that night.
Another reason the internet and myself find this situation a tad ridiculous is because of Will Smith and Jada’s relationship history. Though the couple has been married for 25 years, they’ve faced countless rumors about their relationship being open along with accusations of cheating.
While there’s no definite way to confirm these rumors, many believe them to be true and have been poking fun at the couple’s supposed fierce loyalty. Just take a scroll through Twitter and you’ll see countless tweets and memes mocking the situation because of Will and Jada’s precarious marriage.
If we are to believe that Smith’s assault against Rock is based solely on the attempt to stand up for his wife, this gives an impression of insecurity in both Smith’s relationship and in himself. Rock made a joke. That’s it. Does a joke require Smith’s level of defensiveness? Would it not have been better to simply brush the joke off?
Now, I understand that Jada is battling alopecia, “an autoimmune disorder that causes your hair to come out, often in clumps,” according to Web MD. This is likely the reason Rock’s joke hit so hard — Jada’s hair was more than a matter of styling, but the result of something much more serious. Still, this doesn’t justify Will’s actions.
As I mentioned above, this all took place on live TV. While I don’t think violence is the answer in any case, this is especially true in the middle of a live, televised broadcast of an awards show. If Will was truly as upset as he appeared on Sunday, he should have acted like an adult and talked with Rock after his time on stage was over.
But alas, being mature hardly ever makes for good entertainment.
One of the most perplexing things about this situation is Smith’s winning of Best Actor for his performance in “King Richard.” In his acceptance speech, through tears, he said, “In this business you gotta be able to have people disrespecting you and you gotta smile and you gotta pretend that’s okay.” Interesting. Kind of like what he just did to Chris Rock?
He goes on to say, “Love will make you do crazy things.” Well, at least he got one thing right!
After the Oscars finished, I can’t say Smith’s behavior improved. While yes, he did apologize to Rock, he did it on Instagram. I have no problem with a celebrity apologizing to the public on a social media platform — it only makes sense — but I hope Smith took the time to apologize directly to Rock, not just publicly for everyone else to see.
In his apology, Smith wrote, “a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.” What’s ironic is that Rock was apparently unaware of Jada’s alopecia. Folks, let this be a lesson that reacting emotionally is never the answer.
At the end of the day, Smith’s behavior was unacceptable for his age, position and influence, but at least it provided some quality entertainment for the week.