Will Smith thinks God called on him to slap Chris Rock

In case you're one of the few people in the world who isn't aware of what happened at the 2022 Oscars show last night, here's a recap in a New York Times story. 

Will Smith apologized to the comedian Chris Rock on Monday evening for slapping him during Sunday night’s Oscars telecast after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which administers the awards, denounced his actions and opened an inquiry into the incident.

...The incident unfolded Sunday night after Mr. Rock made a joke about the buzzed hair of Mr. Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who has alopecia, a condition that leads to hair loss. Mr. Smith responded by walking onto the stage of the Dolby Theater and slapping Mr. Rock, leaving stunned viewers wondering at first if the blow might have been scripted until Mr. Smith returned to his seat and warned him to stop talking about his wife, using expletives.

Here's a You Tube video that explains the incident, complete with some annoying ads that can be skipped after a few seconds.

I watched every minute of the Oscars, mostly because I wanted to see how many times Ukraine was mentioned by a presenter or Oscar winner. As I said in a post on my HinesSight blog, Ukraine got a disturbingly small amount of attention from the Hollywood elite.

The Will Smith slap made a lot more news. At first I thought it was scripted, but when Smith won an Oscar for his role as tennis father Richard Williams in "King Richard," his annoying acceptance speech made clear that he had something to apologize for. 

Here's the first part of that speech.

Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family. 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.

Making this film I got to protect Aunjanue Ellis, who is one of the most strongest, most delicate people I ever met. I got to protect Saniyya and Demi, the two actresses that played Venus and Serena. I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people.

I know to do what we do, you gotta be able to take abuse, and you gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you gotta be able to have people disrespecting you and you gotta smile and you gotta pretend like that‘s OK.

But Richard Williams, and what I loved, thank you D. Denzel (Washington) said to me a few minutes ago, he said, “At your highest moment, be careful. That’s when the devil comes for you.”

It’s like I want to be a vessel for love. I want to say thank you to Venus and Serena.

I just spit, I hope they didn’t see that.

I want to say thank you to Venus and Serena and the entire Williams family for entrusting me with your story. That’s what I want to do. 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.

I called his speech "annoying" because I find religious hypocrites way worse than regular hypocrites. Will Smith said he's overwhelmed by what God is calling on him to do and be in this world.

That must include going up on stage at the Oscars and slapping a comedian who makes a joke about your wife's hair, after which Smith yelled profanities at Chris Rock. Sure sounds like something God would approve of -- particularly the Old Testament God, who was big on killing people.

Smith actually believes he's a loving person. Delusion has no bounds when you're a religious believer who thinks God is guiding you. A loving person doesn't do what Smith did. 

Someone who loves his wife and considers that a joke about her hair was out of comedic bounds could have sat in his front row seat and loudly said something like this to Chris Rock: "Hey man, that joke about my wife was tasteless. We need to talk about this after the show."

That would have been defending your wife, while not acting like a complete jerk. But, hey, when you think God is guiding you, there's no limit to what you feel is justified. That's how we get religious wars. Plus, the speech by Smith shows that he views himself as a martyr, just like Jesus.

It was dismaying to see Smith get a standing ovation from the Oscars audience. Sure, winning Best Actor deserves acclaim. However, slapping a comedian for making a joke about your wife deserves criticism. 

So the audience should have sat in their chairs and given Smith some polite applause. What's galling to me is that no award winner or presenter spoke up about the horrendous damage Putin is doing to Ukraine, shelling residential areas, killing women and children, destroying entire cities.

Since the Oscars audience gave Smith a standing ovation, maybe they're OK with violence. Which would be decidedly strange, since most of Hollywood leans liberal, being eager to defend attacks against Blacks,  the LGBTQ community, and other marginalized groups.

Apparently the 3.5 million refugees from Ukraine aren't marginalized enough for the Hollywood elite. Nor is a comedian at the Oscars. Maybe if they claimed God is on their side, as Smith did, they'd get more attention.

Comments

[Dungeness]

@ Brian : [ So the audience should have sat in their chairs and given Smith some polite applause. What's galling to me is that no award winner or presenter spoke up about the horrendous damage Putin is doing to Ukraine, shelling residential areas, killing women and children, destroying entire cities. ]

Agreed. Much more tepid, even perfunctory, applause would have
seemed appropriate. The only counterpoint I see is that the Ukraine
war has created a numbness... a reaction to the non-stop terror and
suffering depicted in the news. It results in the embrace of a feel-
good movie about a protective father because it shuts out, however
briefly, the pain of what's occurred - both inside and outside the
Oscar auditorium.

[Sonya]

Yeah, that was kinda nuts.

I mean, wow. 😳 A sense of humor requires a certain amount of humility.

[Spence Tepper]

As technology moves to streaming, and people prefer to get more familiar with their favorite characters through several hours of a series vs individual one shot movies, we will see the decline and death of "motion pictures" continue. Oscar viewers are in decline.

Movies are big ticket items that add substantial profit and make people famous overnight. "Television" actors must work for their fame and fortune: 12 hour days, 6-7 days per week for months on end to produce a season. Kate Mulligrew, "Captain Janeway" From Star Trek Voyager lamented the loss of time with her two young children, and their resentment towards her now as adults, because of the seven years of her life she gave to Voyager. Her fame was earned, and her fortune much less spectacular than "Movie Stars".

It's a better system that produces better actors.

Still in any system it is not uncommon, particularly in acting, to see narcissism.

Will Smith has never in the past engaged in violence of any kind in public. There is no record of it, no evidence of it.

This was a one-off incident. Not because his wife's head was shaved. Not even because she was suffering a condition that makes this necessary. And not even because of Chris Rock's joke, which Smith found only mildly insulting.

It was the laughter of the audience at his wife's expense that triggered a violent reaction, and his shame at letting that happen to her, to be mocked and then laughed at by all her friends and peers in the hollywood community. They weren't laughing with her. They were laughing at her. She did nothing to be publicly humiliated in this way.

As for Chris Rock, he had no idea, he even claimed this was just a light joke, with a smile. He was oblivious of the harm his joke caused, not by the joke itself, but by humiliation from the audiences' laughter at Jada.

Rock responded very professionally. He responded heroically to his own misdeed, and Smith's. And last night, when he was here in Boston performing, the audience also gave Chris a prolonged and standing ovation that seemed to go on for ever, until he began to cry. Ticket prices climbed from $300 for the top seats to $1,400 overnight.

There is no real harm here at all.

These feelings can be mended. No one should behave violently. No one. Ever. But it happens. The point is to learn, acknowledge the harm we have done, make amends as best we can, forgive, forget and move on.

That challenge is on each of us as human beings.

[arun marwah]

Why waste so much time over a slap at a award function? Surely, many other better things to ponder about in life!

[Sonya]

Jada could could wear wigs if she wanted too—trending. But she’s always had super short hair. It’s all vanity when you think about it. What a silly thing to get upset about. And a total delayed anger reaction. That’s what kinda made it seem fake. I mean Will Smith was laughing at first and then his wife gives him a look and he goes and slaps a guy in public, on stage, on TV — knows it’s going to viral…

I was really impressed with Chris Rock’s reaction though. He was very cool. Definitely makes Chris look like the good guy.

[umami]

As it turns out, Chris Rock is contemptible in his own right...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/chris-rock-has-been-mocking-jada-pinkett-smith-since-the-90s

[Manoj]

Will Smith thinks God called on him to slap Chris Rock

A crazy night of fun n fiasco ending in a melodramatic drama

Making sense of what happened is a lost cause as God is blamed again n again in God's name

Take Gurinder Singh Dhillion he has abused God's name hundreds of times in the same manner just not a physical slap of sorts but nothing less of in the way he creates a self profiteering religious cult and gets abusing the Millions of innocent individuals to make them worship him as a self proclaimed greedy God.

In God's name many a things happen but you should always hold accountable the person in God's name who carries out these hideous acts as Gurinder Singh Dhillion does fully aware and is accountable for his selfish actions in misleading the world just so you could be something that you were never capable off, remembering the waitor days in Spain thats who you will always be.

Don't even try to apologise like Will Smith

You are going to pay and karmas a coming soon...no Oscar for you either on your act of a fake n fraudulent baba

[Getting Jiggy Wid It]

Wtf has God got to do with it?

God didn’t bitch slap Chris Rock, it was fresh prince wee willy wonker smith who done it.

Like most of these stars with pots of money that are hero worshipped in the US, Smith has lost touch with reality - the dude has become a huge fkup who takes his grand old great self way too seriously.

[Sonya]

@ Posted by: Getting Jiggy Wid It | April 07, 2022 at 04:06 PM

Why do you have to be like this?

Being rich and famous and beautiful isn’t as easy as it looks.

LOL (I’m not even trying to make a real point—the whole thing is absurd)