The Smith - Rock debacle at the Oscars

I think anyone who's been bullied and had people make derogatory marks about their appearance knows that Rock isn't innocent too. You don't get Carte Blanche to insult someone's appearance under just jokes bro, words have power, words do hurt. Does justify a slap? probably not. Is it understandable? Yup - anyone whose endured that treatment or seen it happen to a loved one has probably lashed out at some point, you're human it gets to you. A you tuber pointed out that this isn't just a rich woman this is essentially a woman at a workplace award ceremony there to support her husband up for one of the awards so she's at a workplace awards ceremony in front of her colleagues. The fact it's screened to millions makes what Rock did worse not better. I think Rock should apologise it is not ok to mock someone for an illness that affects their appearance especially in an industry that judges you on that shit. If that's your idea of a joke you need better jokes.
 
I just think as a society we need to stop assuming the worst about everyone. Chris Rock made a bad joke, Will Smith made a bad decision. It doesn't impact any of our lives, really, so we should just move on from it.

Until they take away Roman Polanski's Oscar, I don't think it's necessary to punish Will Smith that way. More appropriate would to not invite him to the ceremony next year.
 
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Stake fodder
Stake fodder
But it's such a good distraction from the war in Ukraine!
The man's been through a year of humiliation via a sea of memes ever since August Alsina opened his gob about the "entanglement" and the Red Table Talk ep and its getting to him.

Plus Rock wasn't the only one having a joke jab at Jada so the slap was completely unnecessary and nothing short of embarrassing
 
katmobile said:
I think anyone who's been bullied and had people make derogatory marks about their appearance knows that Rock isn't innocent too. You don't get Carte Blanche to insult someone's appearance under just jokes bro, words have power, words do hurt. Does justify a slap? probably not. Is it understandable? Yup - anyone whose endured that treatment or seen it happen to a loved one has probably lashed out at some point, you're human it gets to you. A you tuber pointed out that this isn't just a rich woman this is essentially a woman at a workplace award ceremony there to support her husband up for one of the awards so she's at a workplace awards ceremony in front of her colleagues. The fact it's screened to millions makes what Rock did worse not better. I think Rock should apologise it is not ok to mock someone for an illness that affects their appearance especially in an industry that judges you on that shit. If that's your idea of a joke you need better jokes.
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He didn't mock her for an illness.

He didn't know she had pattern baldness or a specific sensitivity to jokes about it.

He told a GI Jane joke becaues that move sucked, Jada is a terrible actress, that movie featured women with short hair, and Jada had short hair.

The joke was literally, "GI Jane sucks and so does your acting".

He, an actor/comedian, was there specifically to tell jokes about the other actors in the room at an awards show about acting. And he did that, and then got slapped by a crazy idiot.
 
Buffy Summers said:
I just think as a society we need to stop assuming the worst about everyone. Chris Rock made a bad joke, Will Smith made a bad decision. It doesn't impact any of our lives, really, so we should just move on from it.

Until they take away Roman Polanski's Oscar, I don't think it's necessary to punish Will Smith that way. More appropriate would to not invite him to the ceremony next year.
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I think people were so shocked because of Will Smith's image. The Fresh Prince, Men in Black, Independence Day, etc. Seeing him strike ANYONE in real life would freak people out. As it obviously has.

I've noticed on social media that people either want to see him crucified/cancelled or given a big hug. Frankly, I'm kinda over it.

(By the way, I just discovered that the Academy claims they asked him to leave, but he refused. Hmmm)
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katmobile said:
I think Rock should apologise it is not ok to mock someone for an illness that affects their appearance especially in an industry that judges you on that shit. If that's your idea of a joke you need better jokes.
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Chris has nothing to apologise for. He didn't mention Jada's affair with her son's friend, not did he bring up Will's little "entanglement" with Margot Robbie. He told a really TAME joke. Period.

And this situation has given Chris the best PR ever!!!! Good, he deserves it.


Edit: I'm really loving this automatic post merger. Less work for me! 🥳
 
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The Bronze said:
Appreciate this is a personal issue for you but I think your faith in Smith is misplaced. He's crafted a loveable persona over many years. Everyone's a fan. This wasn't a one off mistake, it was a public mask slipping moment. When his girlfriend at the time wouldn't do what she was told Smith took all of her possessions out of the house and set fire to them in the garden. He's got serious anger issues at the very least and is a potential danger.
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Please dont patrinize me or belittle my point by saying "don't mind ANYTHING she says - it is just personal - and therefore means nothing."

I would actually say that PERSONAL is why this happened. Chris Rock made it personal FOR YEARS.

Will Smith was loved because for years living in a fishbowl, he was loveable. He was not and is not perfect. But he has shown himself to be a decent human - for decades. He grew up and became someone. He made a bad mistake and he is going to pay for it for YEARS.

Meanwhile, bullying remains on the menu and abusers have it confirmed: emotional abuse, even public and sustained, is just fine.

THIS is the essense of abuse. "It is just words." Well, words can destroy a person. Ask any adult who was belittled but NEVER struck by a parent. Being humiliated repeatedly takes a toll. It drives people to suicide. It slowly warps the internal picture until all that is left is self hate and self doubt.

Why do we praise and reward people? Because words of adulation feed the soul. WORDS MATTER. If someone takes into you again and again and repeatedly holds you up for ridicule, it breaks your spirit.

Talented people often have MORE self doubt and fear of failure and SHAME. Just think of Kate Spade. Robin Williams. Anthony Bourdain. Kurt Cobain. And many others. Suicides. In spite of "having it all. Pain comes to all. Deliberate cruelty, particularly on the international stage is like being stripped - and having your wife stripped - before your peers AND the world. It was the act of a savage SADISTIC person.

Of course, Will Smith did the wrong thing by being violent in response. But the provocation was extreme and without justification. It was not for "fun". The audience who gave Will Smith a standing ovation knew it too.
 
Wow a uh…lot of negative energy going on in here. 🙁

Can we all just agree that smacking someone and cussing them out (regardless of wealth status) on live television is no bueno? If Jada found the joke offensive, which it seems like she did, then they should have handled that behind the curtains after the show or during a commercial break. It seems like they thought the joke was offensive, but resorting to a random smack across the face is definitely not the way to handle it.

I’m not Jada Smith, so I obviously don’t know what offends her, but I do know what it’s like to be offended. Can’t say I’ve ever felt like beating someone up as a result…
 
DeepBlueJoy said:
Please dont patrinize me or belittle my point by saying "don't mind ANYTHING she says - it is just personal - and therefore means nothing."
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Didn't mean to patronise. I understand your point that words can hurt. Feel like you're extending too much sympathy to Smith who has a history of extreme over reaction and controlling behaviour.
DeepBlueJoy said:
the provocation was extreme
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Provocation was mild and reaction was extreme for me. Agree to disagree.
 
The Bronze said:
Didn't mean to patronise. I understand your point that words can hurt. Feel like you're extending too much sympathy to Smith who has a history of extreme over reaction and controlling behaviour.

Provocation was mild and reaction was extreme for me. Agree to disagree.
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Had it been ONE INSTANCE, i would agree completely, even though it was a low blow. This has been ongoing, public abuse, directed at his wife. If someone came to yoir job and over YEARS (at least 6) publicly insulted you and your family, i suspect you would find it inpossible to ignore.

I don't and never have thought violence was an answer. Ever.

I find it VERY telling that Chris Rock did NOT submit his "joke" for approval, AS REQUIRED.
 
DeepBlueJoy said:
Had it been ONE INSTANCE, i would agree completely, even though it was a low blow. This has been ongoing, public abuse, directed at his wife. If someone came to yoir job and over YEARS (at least 6) publicly insulted you and your family, i suspect you would find it inpossible to ignore.

I don't and never have thought violence was an answer. Ever.

I find it VERY telling that Chris Rock did NOT submit his "joke" for approval, AS REQUIRED.
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I for one was completely unaware that there was any bad blood between Rock and Smith, so thanks for the further info. And I agree that Rock should apologize, too. (I don't know if he has.) I reiterate what I said before, that by hitting him, Smith turned Rock into the victim, when otherwise his joke would have earned him criticism and sympathy for JPS. Which is all to say, I do understand and agree with a lot of your points.

I don't want to make this about JPS's appearance, but I thought her hairstyle, or lack thereof, looked fabulous!
 
DeepBlueJoy
DeepBlueJoy
She looked awesome!
famicommander said:
The joke was literally, "GI Jane sucks and so does your acting".
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I don't even think that was the joke, the joke was "hey GI Jane is a bald woman, you're a bald woman, ha" I don't think it went beyond that. I don't think Chris Rock HAS to apologize, he can if he wants, but he was at a job being paid to be funny, and he made a joke, even Will laughed at first, then he was assaulted on the job, which is not okay. Rock doesn't need to apologize, he's already doing Smith a favor by not pressing charges and allowing him to stay at the ceremony. It was a bad situation all around, and you know what, stuff happens, people deal with it and then they move on. Smith apologized and hopefully he learns a lesson not to slap people for bad jokes. I think the Oscar's need to put in place a Standard Operating Procedure to ensure this doesn't happen again, and how to handle it if something does happen. It's unfortunate that this is what people are talking about with the Oscars instead of CODA winning best picture or the first male deaf actor to win an award, or how they botched the "We don't talk about Bruno" song. So, many other important things to talk about.
 
CODA is freakin' Hallmark channel made for TV movie quality.

Good thing I don't care about any awards in any context or I'd be really annoyed that shlocky garbage won.
 
Now, let's see if SNL has a take on this. God, I hope so! Cold open, possibly. 😁



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tvline.com

Will Smith Banned From Oscars For 10 Years, For Slapping Chris Rock At 2022 Ceremony — Read Smith's Response - TVLine

Following his slap of Chris Rock at the Oscars, Will Smith has been banned from all Academy events, including the annual presentation of the Oscars, for 10 years -- read statement.
tvline.com tvline.com

So what’s everyone’s take with the Academy’s statement? “We fell short because of the unprecedented”?! Boy I sure hope an actual emergency doesn’t happen during these ceremonies, if not doing anything at all is “falling short”. For one, cut to a commercial break, have someone usher out Smith, immediately disqualify him for the award he would have been given (or at the very least, postpone the pronouncement of that award until the end of the show so senior officials can quickly determine disqualification), and have another host (there were three) give an apology for the disruption and assure members and viewers the situation will be handled immediately. These shows have a director or producer, someone running the show, and they really should be able to make a quick, sound judgment call. That’s what they’ve been hired to do. I could figure all of this out, and the only awards ceremonies I’ve ever put on were for school honor awards, as a teacher.
 
Cohen said:
tvline.com

Will Smith Banned From Oscars For 10 Years, For Slapping Chris Rock At 2022 Ceremony — Read Smith's Response - TVLine

Following his slap of Chris Rock at the Oscars, Will Smith has been banned from all Academy events, including the annual presentation of the Oscars, for 10 years -- read statement.
tvline.com tvline.com

So what’s everyone’s take with the Academy’s statement? “We fell short because of the unprecedented”?!
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The whole thing read as “we are not sorry that this happened, we are sorry that we got caught”.

The fact that it has been…what, a week or two? since the event just cements that this is pure PR garbage. If they really wanted to issue some punishment to Will Smith (who realistically isn’t going to be receiving an Oscar in the near future anyways), they would have done so the day after this happened, if not the night of.

As it is, the Academy 100% exploited this for extra eyeballs and headlines (the Oscars have had abysmal ratings for several years in a row) and decided to issue a “punishment” once it was out of the news cycle. 🙄
 
Cohen said:
So what’s everyone’s take with the Academy’s statement? “We fell short because of the unprecedented”?! Boy I sure hope an actual emergency doesn’t happen during these ceremonies, if not doing anything at all is “falling short”. For one, cut to a commercial break, have someone usher out Smith, immediately disqualify him for the award he would have been given (or at the very least, postpone the pronouncement of that award until the end of the show so senior officials can quickly determine disqualification), and have another host (there were three) give an apology for the disruption and assure members and viewers the situation will be handled immediately. These shows have a director or producer, someone running the show, and they really should be able to make a quick, sound judgment call. That’s what they’ve been hired to do. I could figure all of this out, and the only awards ceremonies I’ve ever put on were for school honor awards, as a teacher.
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The ushers did ask Smith to leave, but he refused. So it would have required police to remove him, and that might have seemed overbearing. You're right that it could have been handled better at the time, but I do think the Academy tries to be very sensitive on a number of ethical issues, and maybe it was just as well to take time to consider what to do, especially since the incident was over with. If they had done something in the moment, it might have escalated the situation (footage of police dragging Smith out yelling?) and drawn even more attention away from the people who were there to be celebrated.

It would be good, though, for the Academy to put some plan into place in case of future incidents, and also not serve liquor? I don't know if they were serving anything, except people sitting at little tables implies food/drink service.
 
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