Oscars 2022 turned out to be more eventful and full of highlights than everyone expected them to be. After the event concluded, the attendees and the audience could not stop discussing the awkward highlights of the show. Will Smith slapping Chris Rock made bigger headlines than the winners of Oscar 2022.
The Fiasco:
The unversed must know that during the Oscars, renowned comedian Chris Rock made an offensive joke about Jada Pinkett Smith. Jada is the wife of Will Smith who is a widely celebrated actor. Will Smith went into a rage on hearing the remark made to his wife by Chris Rock. He jumped up on the stage and did something no one expected out of a celebrity and well-behaved man like him.
Smith slapped Chris Rock and struck everyone with shock. The incident took everyone by surprise. Several celebrities have reacted to the incident and expressed their opinion on it. Jim Carrey in one of his interviews post the Oscar awards called Will’s act, “sickening”. In another interview following the previous one, he clarified his statement and said that the incident represented boundaries and allowances being broken and permissiveness to certain behaviors.
Jim also tried to express his sympathy towards Will and said that people like himself and Will smith live under a lot of pressure. There is a lot of pressure on them and a lot of expectations not just about their work but their behavior too. He added that the country and its people expect them to maintain their image at all times. Talking about the pressure of being a celebrity he said, “You know what? I’m enough. I have enough. I’ve done enough. I don’t need nine businesses. I don’t need to be a movie producer, director, writer, actor, star and have a record company, be on TikTok, and be on social media, and have a reality show and share my inner-most life on some therapy show.”
Daniel Radcliffe talked about how bored he is listening to people speak about Will slapping Chris. The actor said that he was already dramatically bored of hearing people’s opinions about the incident and that he doesn’t want to be another person expressing their opinion on the same.
Amy Schumer found Will’s act to be very disrespectful and a bummer. The actress co-hosted the Oscars. Talking about the incident, she said that she could feel herself. She addressed Will as Ali, based on the character of Mohammad Ali that he played in one of his movies. She added that all of a sudden Ali was making his way up. The actress expressed how she’d it was sad, and an act of toxic masculinity.
After the incident, everyone was waiting for a response from the academy. After realizing the seriousness of the issue, the Academy in its statement has assured that they shall be taking due disciplinary actions against Will Smith’s misconduct at the Awards.
The Academy had scheduled a meeting on the 18th of April, to discuss the incident and take due action against Will. For justified reasons, the academy has now moved their meeting to the 8th of April. Earlier the meeting was scheduled keeping in consideration that the members must be informed about it at least 15 days previous to the date. Also, Smith must have at least five days to respond to the meeting.
Much before the Academy decided to make a statement on the matter, Smith himself went on the internet and apologized to Chris Rock via an Instagram post. Will wrote, ”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.”
Our Take On The Fiasco:
It was undoubtedly a sad and unfortunate incident that affected not just Will Smith and Chris Rock but also Jada Pinkett Smith. Before we get into a discussion about whether or not Will’s reaction was justified, we must first address the joke made by Chris Rock.
Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald look. It must be noted that Jada suffers from an autoimmune disorder called Alopecia, as a result of which she loses hair in patches. Jada hence decided to go bald. Making a joke about one’s disease is anything but a joke.
It is insensitive to mock someone in front of a crowd, based on their appearance or even worse, disease. Will slapping Chris cannot be justified, but if we try to ponder longer and get into Will’s shoes, we do realize that it is equally tough and hurtful to have a loved one be mocked in front of you as is being mocked yourself.
Will’s reaction to Rock’s joke as a result of his protectiveness for Jada. It was influenced by affection and rage at the same time. Clouded by his emotions he could not stop himself from reacting impulsively at the moment.
