I saw it live and at first thought it was staged….the joke was in poor taste ( I really dislike when anyone comments on another’s appearance). I had heard a couple months ago about her alopecia but had forgotten about it- explained that all to my husband and we were both annoyed with Chris Rock. But, Will handled it all wrong. A discussion later would have been the appropriate thing to do.
I think they both need to step up, act like adults and apologize. No one on this earth is perfect- we all make mistakes but it’s how we make amends and learn from our mistakes that matter, imo.
Agree that the joke was in poor taste. Unfortunately a teaching moment was lost by the terrible way it was handled by Will Smith…instead of slapping and cursing Chris Rock (sorry, that is never OK) Will Smith could have walked to the podium, taken the microphone, explained to the audience that his wife has a medical condition called alopecia which caused her to lose her hair (I for one did not know about her condition), that it has been a difficult and painful thing, and that joking about people’s medical condition is just horrible.
I didn’t know about Jada’s condition. She has kind of an edgy fashion sense so I assumed the shaved head was fashion. So it is very possible that Chris Rock didn’t know. But even if he did, it was a joke and even if in bad taste doesn’t mean he should be assaulted. But by Will Smith reacting the way he did it took away from so many positive moments of the night. CODA, Ariana DeBose, and even Smith’s win for the portrayal of Richard Williams. Violence is not the answer.
Definitely it was not cool of Will Smith and I do not condone violence.
I think that Will and Chris Rock have a history, Chris has said other things, knows Will isn’t a fan. Yet he continues to poke cruel jokes at the Smiths.
Doesn’t make it right to slap. But I think Chris Rock thought he’d be able to make another joke and get away with it. So did Will Smith overact or was he goaded into it?
But it’s very unfortunate when a personal conflict becomes very public. I suspect the PR firms are working overtime today.
I wish I could remember where I read earlier today exactly this - that Chris and Will have a history and Chris has dissed Will or his family on more than one occasion before.
Straw that broke the camel’s back in a very inappropriate way?
If he’s still angry about a previous Oscars joke, as I read he was (Rock had joked the Academy wouldn’t notice Jada’s boycott because she wasn’t invited), then it doesn’t make Will look any better. Just more immature and bitter to be holding onto a comedian’s jokes for years.
I don’t watch the Oscars and didn’t even know they were on, so Will did them a favor with his stupidity by given them publicity. I think Will and Chris can resolve their beef on their own.
Please - he wasn’t goaded into anything. Chris Rock is a comedian . Every comedian at every Oscars ever pushed the envelope - Wanda, Amy and Regina did plenty of it throughout the show.
Will Smith overreacted and made a fool of himself and worse, took away the magic for other winners, like Questlove who won the award Chris Rock was presenting.
I just saw a video of the uncensored words immediately after the slap. No question to me that it could ever be construed as part of the comedy act! Rough.
Sorry, Will Smith overtaking the podium to explain why he was upset with a joke would have also been extremely inappropriate. Distracting, selfish. Leave your beef with Chris until later. Take an opportunity later to educate folks more about alopecia.
Very, very unfortunate incident. Sad.
If every person that ever feels it is okay to assault another person because they think someone has disrespected them or their spouse, we are in bad shape.
Did I say it wasn’t? I’m saying at every Oscars ever jokes in poor taste have been told. And if you have comedians presenting, that is what is going to happen.
Regina Hall was groping married men during her shtick- would it have been ok for an angry wife to charge the stage and give her a nice slap?
Will Smith escalated that situation from 1 to 100 in mere seconds. He initially laughed at the joke, then completely went off the handle. ETA: It is entirely possible that he didn’t even know about her conditions- I was the only one in a room of 6 who did.
It apparently touched a nerve, but from what I remember the GI Jane character was a strong empowering woman who rocked a shaved head. Maybe they should just not have jokes at the Oscars in the future.
My bigger concern is that Will Smith is (whether he likes it or not) on the public eye and a role model for young people. Kids-middle school and high school years especially- are bullied and the brunt of jokes from friend/frienemies/bullies and violence is not the way to handle this. There are often severe life changing consequences to violent behavior. Suspension/expulsion/criminal charges/prison.
Chris Rock shouldn’t have made that joke, it was poor taste. That said, Will Smith should NOT have acted that way. Comedians make poor taste jokes all the time. If Will Smith didn’t like the joke, he could’ve handled it much differently and it would’ve just blown over and not turned into a whole thing that has overshadowed the whole ceremony. Why couldn’t he have nicely confronted Chris Rock backstage? Slapping is so childish.
Jada has been open about her battle with alopecia and there has been recent news and even specific commentary on the day of the Oscars about how hard it was for her to decide to shave her remaining hair, and how ultimately, it was her daughter that helped her get through it (the Oscars was apparently her first event since shaving her head).
I haven’t suffered from alopecia and I can’t begin to imagine the Herculean effort it must take for sufferers (particularly female) to make peace with their hair no longer being in integral part of their whole being and a source of their self confidence - but I’m guessing Jada was having all of those feelings at the Oscars, even before Chris Rock said anything.
Not advocating for physical violence but we should also stop normalizing and brushing off derogatory comments on women’s appearance - especially when it’s connected to a medical issue that there is no control over. That should be the outrage - not the slap. The latter is an issue between 2 grown men that should be resolved between them.
There’s no hiding behind comedy on this one. It was not “The Chris Rock Show” - he wasn’t even a host - he was merely presenting a category. His comment was cruel and completely inappropriate for an awards show. I don’t buy for a minute that he didn’t know about the alopecia or that Jada had recently decided to completely shave her head. Both the comment and the altercation had to be so humiliating for her!