thoughts on will smith slapping the man on stage?

luvsunsets

19

the fact he actually got angry and yelled at him was shocking

Reply 1

Crazy Jamie

Life & Style Forum Helper, Careers Forum Helper

19

The 'man' is Chris Rock, who himself is a very well known comedian, or at least he is to my generation (which I appreciate is different to most others on this site). I'm not sure why this is in the Relationships forum, unless you want to look at it through the lens of Will Smith's relationship with Jada Pinkett-Smith. But for what it's worth, I thought it was a shameful moment for both Will Smith and the Academy itself. He committed an unprovoked assault in front of an audience of millions of people. And yes, I do deliberately use the word 'unprovoked'. I know there was a fairly tasteless joke made about his wife, but that was not in any way justification for committing an assault. Not at all. He was going to receive his Oscar irrespective, because voting had closed and the result was settled, but the fact that he was just allowed to go back to his seat after that having committed a literal crime in front of the entire audience was really poor. Not an easy situation to handle in the moment admittedly, but it soured the entire night, and certainly soured Will Smith's legacy when it came to actually collected the Oscar. No one is going to remember the night for the award he received, including him and his family.

Reply 2

Admit-One

Universities Forum Helper

21

I was more than happy for him to slap him under the circumstances.

Reply 3

Crazy Jamie

Life & Style Forum Helper, Careers Forum Helper

19

Original post by Admit-One

I was more than happy for him to slap him under the circumstances.

Given that our views generally align for the most part, I'm really curious as to why. The joke was bad, and I'd be furious if someone had made the same joke about my wife, even if it was well intentioned. But I just don't see how that justifies any kind of physical reaction like that.

Reply 4

Admit-One

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by Crazy Jamie

Given that our views generally align for the most part, I'm really curious as to why. The joke was bad, and I'd be furious if someone had made the same joke about my wife, even if it was well intentioned. But I just don't see how that justifies any kind of physical reaction like that.

Sure. I should probably qualify it and say that I’m basically a pacifist and have raised a hand to someone only once in my life, (decades ago someone decided to punch me unprovoked so I responded in kind).

Chris Rock wildly overstepped the mark IMO. Some roasting of attendees is expected, but when it boils down to lampooning someone’s medical condition (he made a crack about Pinkett-Smith’s alopecia) then I can well understand Will losing his temper and striking him. People do far worse for less and it really was not remarkable to me in the grand scheme of things.

Reply 5

Crazy Jamie

Life & Style Forum Helper, Careers Forum Helper

19

Original post by Admit-One

Sure. I should probably qualify it and say that I’m basically a pacifist and have raised a hand to someone only once in my life, (decades ago someone decided to punch me unprovoked so I responded in kind).

Chris Rock wildly overstepped the mark IMO. Some roasting of attendees is expected, but when it boils down to lampooning someone’s medical condition (he made a crack about Pinkett-Smith’s alopecia) then I can well understand Will losing his temper and striking him. People do far worse for less and it really was not remarkable to me in the grand scheme of things.

Fair enough. I did know about the alopecia at the time and I agree that it significantly overstepped the mark. I can appreciate where you're coming from.