Actor Will Smith, 53, surprised the Oscars 2022 audience and global audiences alike when he bolted onto the stage on Sunday and chose violence, striking presenter Chris Rock with an open-handed slap after he made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
One Twitter user suggested that people shouldn’t condemn Smith for his action, rattling off names of various other actors who have purportedly crossed a line.
“No, we are not going to do this to a Black man when we didn’t do it to Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Harvey Weinstein, Michael Douglas, Douglas Hoffman, Richard Dreyfuss, Paul Haggis, James Franco, Kevin Spacey, Casey Affleck, Mel Gibson, Arthur Freed, Joan Crawford [and] Clark Gable,” they wrote
Smith went on to win the Oscar for “King Richard” portraying the father of tennis stars Venus and also Serena Williams.
Even if it was scripted it was in poor taste in the highest. A black man slaps another black man at the #Oscars when a black man is producing the Oscars for the first time🤦♀️If it was real #WillSmith should be charged with assault
— MrzArmyNurse (@MrzArmyNurse) March 28, 2022
Smith appeared to defend his actions during his five-minute acceptance speech that bordered on psychological collapse:
“In this time in my life, in this moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world,” he said. “I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people.
“I want to be an ambassador of that kind of love and care and concern. I want to apologize to the Academy, I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying for winning an award, it’s not about winning an award for me, it’s about being able to shine a light.”
“Art imitates life: I look like the crazy father. Just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things,”
“To do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse. You got to be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business you got to be able to have people disrespecting you. And you got to smile, you got to pretend like that’s OK.”
Chris Rock Offered A Joke, Will Smith Chose Violence
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced a “Formal Review” of Will Smith’s Best Actor win after his run-in with Rock.
“The Academy condemns the actions of Mr. Smith at last night’s show,” a spokesperson for the organization said. “We have officially started a formal review around the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct and California law.”
Keith Nelson Jr, Senior Editor, Entertainment/Lifestyle for Men’s Health Magazine tweeted Will smacked a man at the Oscars and then won one for Best Actor, and gave one of the best speeches of the night. I’ve never seen anything like this. This is Black history #Oscars“
Will smacked a man at the Oscars and then won one for Best Actor, and gave one of the best speeches of the night. I've never seen anything like this.
This is Black history #Oscars
— Keith Nelson Jr (@JusAire) March 28, 2022
According to numerous sources, a plainly dismayed Denzel Washington later told Smith
“At your highest moment, be careful. That’s when the devil comes for you.“
Notable Black Conservative Creators The Hodge Twins wrote:
If Mel Gibson slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars he would be locked up right now. #Oscars
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) March 28, 2022
Taking everything else aside for a moment: All the family drama, Jada’s alopecia-related hair loss, Chris Rock’s Joke, Will & Jada’s “Open Marriage”… all of it.
At the end of the day, during the 94th Annual Academy Awards, with nearly a century of history…
For the first time EVER there was violence on the stage, and it was a black man striding up and striking another black man and cussing him out on national television. While this event should cast no aspersions on the black community of this nation, it’s still a bad-looking moment in black history. And even worse is the fact that there are so many people out there desperately covering for Smith on this one.
Worse still, this small action has completely overshadowed the efforts of more than 5,000 people who worked to make the Oscars possible, forever tarnishing their effort. The Awards Ceremony is estimated to have the second-worst ratings of all time at 15.36 million viewers according to Forbes, up 56% over 2021, but a paltry sad turn from the 2014 high of over 40 million.
What would it say if after the strife and identarian/racist fervor of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy in 2020, when April Reign a racial inclusivity activist created the hashtag that turned into a viral call-to-arms that spurred the Academy to essentially ‘affirmative action’ the composition of its membership, that the last Oscars Award ceremony after nearly a century… ended on this note? With an example (albeit toned down from Chicago standards) of black-on-black violence.
WATCH:
Will Smith’s cuckold rage moment at the Oscars in its full, unedited and uncensored glory. pic.twitter.com/0y5ljWe8bY
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 28, 2022
