Will Smith Smacks Chris Rock, a Breakdown
Here’s the Jomboy breakdown you didn’t think you needed but will give you all the necessary context for the slap heard ‘round the world at the 2022 Oscars.
Personally, I watched Will Smith smack Chris Rock live. He then went on to win the best actor award and deliver a rambling, semi-coherent speech about being a vessel for love. I don’t get it.
The fact that Will Smith wasn’t arrested for assault right after hitting Chris Rick on national television just shows you how different rich people are treated compared to the middle class and poor. I want people arrested and fired for assaulting people. I guess if you are rich and famous, you can get away with it. Where have I heard that before?
I am trying to imagine just how famous and privileged you must be to get out of your seat at the Academy Awards, slap someone, sit back down and heckle, and then win the Oscar. The answer is Will Smith famous.
He should have been escorted out of the room. If that meant he could not claim his Best Actor statue, all the better.
Was the joke tasteless? I thought it was pretty light. Jada Pinkett Smith has alopecia.
She wasn’t going through cancer treatments. Still, I get the whole “defend your wife because she just gave Rock and then you the stink eye.” But also, overreact much?
It was a moment of toxic masculinity by an actor that disgraced not just himself but the event itself.
No one will remember it was the first time a streaming service (Apple TV+) won Best Picture at the Academy Awards for CODA. That in and of itself is mind-blowing and should be addressed by the industry. No one will remember Jane Campion’s win, Troy Kotsur’s, or anyone else’s win.
It will just be the Oscars where Will Smith smacked Chris Rock, and that’s sad.