Community Chat

[golding76]

What could Will Smith have done instead to make his displeasure known?

I think:

1.  He and Jada could have quietly exited the room until after Rock's presentation concluded, and Will could have spoken forcefully later in the evening with Chris Rock to let him know of his deep displeasure with the jokes Rock tells at his (Smith's) wife's expense.

2.  He, Jada and their entire table could have assumed facial expressions of great displeasure and kept that look for Rock's entire presentation.  And again, speak to Rock later in the evening.

However, feelings were heightened for too many reasons to enumerate.  Thus, Will Smith went off to slap a comedian in the face and ruined one of the best evenings of his (Smith's) life.  Bad luck.  Bad eye on him.  Something bad was in the room.   

[faeriemoon]

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@qbetzforreal wrote:

Will has issued his public apology to Chris, the Academy and the public at large via Instagram.

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Damage control, and I am doubtful it was sincere.  He attempted to make an excuse for his behavior in his acceptance speech.  He must have been calculating how he could repair the damage in the time between "the incident" and the announcement of his win.

[JeanLouiseFinch]

Interesting...

Four days before the Academy Awards, in which Will Smith assaulted Chris Rock over a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith declared in a TikTok video, “I don’t give two c*raps what people feel of this bald head of mine, because guess what, I love it.”

[faeriemoon]

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@JamandBread wrote:

Comparing a woman to Demi Moore (who was at the height of fitness and beauty) in GI Jane is not in poor taste. Whether Rock knew about her alopecia or not, the joke was not insensitive, nor was it about her medical condition. It was about her shaved head. Like GI Jane.  I'd take the compliment.

Will acted the fool. His wife didn't do anything to cause this.

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Agree that Will was the fool, but Jada could have told him to let it go, and at least attempted to defuse the situation.  But yes, it's fully Will's fault. It just annoys me that she looks smug about it in the pictures/videos.

[ROMARY]

I wouldn't be surprised that, in general, folks at important TV functions might have taken an allergy pill or some other type of prescribed mood relaxers, and in combination with, say, a cocktail or two, might cause 'agitation'.  

Some of the side effects of certain meds can cause agitation.

Happened to me once. Twenty or more years ago.

  Instead of 1/4 of an allergy pill, I took 3/4 of a pill, and I became somewhat agitated. 

[Burnsite]

I watched and enjoyed it for a while but turned off the TV before the big slap, as I had an early day starting on Monday. 

If people are insulting, I guess I think reproval is in order--not a blow, probably, but honestly. . . where does the smarmy snark stop these days?  (Nowhere??)

Thinking about tacky outbreaks at the Oscars, there is the person c. early 1970s who ran across the stage w/o clothing.  People who claim the Oscars were always classy are forgetting things like that.

I do think insult comedy has gone too far when it enrages people so much that someone's partner slaps another person for making a creepy reference to his wife's lack of hair due to a medical condition.

If it had been me he had insulted, I would probably have slapped CR myself.

I liked the part I did watch--much better than some recent shows.  Partly b/c the presenters were _not_ as snarky as usual.

[Zernia Rose]

I saw the slap, thought it was real because of the sound being silenced.  Odds were that Smith would win the award because of his prior awards for the role that sometimes presage the Oscars.  Alopecia is devasting medical condition for women and seems to affect Black women the most, alarming in its rising numbers.  I can't develop outrage over this one because my outrage was used up after watching the televised assault of another type over three days.

[Lucky Charm]

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@Zernia Rose wrote:

I saw the slap, thought it was real because of the sound being silenced.  Odds were that Smith would win the award because of his prior awards for the role that sometimes presage the Oscars.  Alopecia is devasting medical condition for women and seems to affect Black women the most, alarming in its rising numbers.  I can't develop outrage over this one because my outrage was used up after watching the televised assault of another type over three days.

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You're right.  After watching night after night the fighting going on in Ukraine, I think it's up to 34 days now ?, it puts things like this in the *dump* file.

[jubilant]

I haven't watched the oscars in years. What happened is just one more reason why. We are in such a sad state of moral decline in this country.  The news channels play it and replay it ad nauseum.  Surely there is something better or more important then this for "news".

[Burnsite]

It shouldn't be news.

I get occasional messages from Ukraine from a person I've never met but have been exchanging emails with tor many years. I don't know if she is all right or not. I last heard from her two weeks ago.

To me, this incursion by bullies into Ukraine is another reason to draw a line. 

The Oscars is not, of course,a parallel invasion, but snark making fun of people is a not so subtle incursion into people's dignity. 

People with illnesses shoudn't be mocked.

Lots of people like to denigrate. They are not our friends.

I don't think my correspondent in Ukraine would disagree.