The Will Smith - Chris Rock Affair

This was to be my post-mortem post on Sunday evening's Oscar Awards and telecast, but unfortunately (to state it mildly), what became the highlowlight of the show has so dominated the public conversation and social media, that it deserves a post all of its own.

I am referring, of course, to Will Smith's shocking assault and on and  the f-bomb cursing out of comedian Chris Rock live on national and international television.  As we all know by now, Rock made a joke of questionable taste involving Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith.  Smith, like  a chivalrous knight in shining armor, felt the need to defend his wife's honor, walked on stage, slapped Rock in the face, returned to his seat, and proceeded to to loudly curse out Rock, not once, but twice.

In a world where we have become pretty much immune to almost everything we see on television, this was a pretty shocking display of anger and violence that, had it happened in your neighborhood tavern, would have probably resulted in someone's arrest.  Said act was followed forty minutes later of Smith being awarded the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in "King Richard."  His rambling, tear-filled acceptance speech only added to the surrealness of the occasion.  It contained a half-assed apology to "the Academy" and no apology to Chris Rock.

Reactions have split pretty much into two camps:

• Good for Will Smith.  Someone insulted his wife, and he defended her.
• Brickbats to Will Smith for committing an act of violence that simply cannot be justified, regardless of how dubious his joke may her been.  (And since when has edgy and even insulting humor in Hollywood and among comedians become a shocking thing?)

I fall into the latter camp, and find it hard to believe that people are defending Smith's actions.

This was my comment on Facebook on Sunday evening: "On what should have been the biggest night of his career, Will Smith just might have flushed his career right down the toilet."

Washington DC film critic and podcaster Arch Campbell said "if you ask me, Will Smith undid a lifetime of good will in this one moment."

Then there is this:

"When Will Smith stormed onto the Oscar stage to strike Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife’s short hair, he did a lot more damage than just to Rock’s face. With a single petulant blow, he advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the entertainment industry, and perpetuated stereotypes about the Black community."

The author of that quote is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and it is the opening paragraph of this column from his Newsletter.  I strongly urge you to read it.  Abdul-Jabbar is a smart and insightful writer on a variety of topics, and this piece is no exception. (in fact, I just paid fifty bucks for an annual subscription to his newsletter, and I think that it will prove to be a real bargain over the course of the next twelve months.)

This was the closing of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's general columnist Tony Norman's column yesterday:

"I hope Mr. Smith’s five minutes of awkward Oscars glory was worth becoming a human meme. He didn’t “protect” Jada Pinkett Smith’s “honor” — he threw away three decades of good will because he, a Black man of privilege and unimaginable wealth, believed he could assault another wealthy Black man and get away with it.

"Whether he apologizes to Chris Rock or not, his life as the ebony Tom Hanks is pretty much over."

For those Grandstander readers who don't know of him, Tony Norman is Black, and here is his column in its entirety.  Again, I urge you to read it.

For his part, Smith issued an apology to Chris Rock yesterday.  As celebrity apologies go, this one seemed more sincere and heartfelt than most.  To my knowledge, Rock has not issued any statement other than to say that he would not be filing charges against Smith with the LAPD.  I've always liked Will Smith, both as a performer and a person.  I'll leave it to Kareem to summarize:

"I don’t want to see him punished or ostracized because of this one, albeit a big one, mistake. I just want this to be a cautionary tale for others not to romanticize or glorify bad behavior. And I want Smith to be the man who really protects others—by admitting the harm he’s done to others."