In the moment Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, he was not the magnanimous, multitalented A-lister but a kind of new-age version of Willie Horton.
In my youth, those warnings on occasion preceded cooler-heads-prevail, let's-talk-this-out resolutions but more often served as the harbingers of beef: a plenitude of ardent fisticuffs, a multi-person shoot-out in my neighborhood park that lasted minutes that might've been a millennium, a young Black somebody ending up dead. On Oscar Sunday, a version of them—"Keep my wife's name out your fucking mouth!"—served as an emphatic explanation for the slap seen around the world. And it's now on sale for less than $20 on Amazon. After listening to Chris Rock deliver a joke at the 2022 Academy Awards about Jada Pinkett-Smith's baldness, Will Smith climbed on stage and appeared to smack the comedian in the face. It was a shocking moment for any telecast, particularly the Oscars, and immediately sparked fierce conversation and debate on social media (see all the reactions here). The camera captured Smith's immediate reaction to the joke about his wife—who has spoken publicly about having alopecia, a condition that causes baldness—and the actor is laughing along with much of the audience. Shortly after the altercation, Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in King Richard. It was Smith's first Oscar. During his acceptance speech he commented on the incident: It doesn't get any more cinematic than this. Prime shipping, come through. Will Smith was seemingly spotted consulting with his PR rep during an Oscars commercial break after what appeared to be an unscripted confrontation involving a slap between him and Chris Rock. Ramin Setoodeh, the executive editor of Variety, tweeted a video of what took place right after the incident, writing, "Will Smith's publicist came over and talked to him at the last commercial. There was also someone standing next to Jada." |
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