I wrote about this when it happened because there was so much going on here. I'm not at all convinced Will was entirely motivated by 'manhood', 'honour', and 'defending his woman'. Jada's eyeroll seemed disgusted at worst, it's not like she broke down in tears. The look on Smith's face - and I watched the video several times - was someon…
I wrote about this when it happened because there was so much going on here. I'm not at all convinced Will was entirely motivated by 'manhood', 'honour', and 'defending his woman'. Jada's eyeroll seemed disgusted at worst, it's not like she broke down in tears. The look on Smith's face - and I watched the video several times - was someone who was quite pleased with himself, who was all ego in that moment, which is why Denzel Washington uttered wisdom for the ages when he told Smith, "When you're at your peak, that's when the Devil comes for you." I get it - it's about that arrogance, that feeling you can do no wrong when you're in a particularly successful time in your life. I suspect just a few minutes after the incident he had that 'oh fuck' moment when he realized he'd fucked up supremely, which is why his Big Moment 45 minutes later was a lot less joyful for him than it might have been, because now everyone had had time to process what happened, he knew it too, and he went up there as a fucking idiot rather than a conquering Oscar hero.
I was quite disappointed in him because even though I'm not particularly a fan, I've always liked him as an actor and love the fact that he's a science & technology geek.
AFAIK Rock still hasn't apologized to Jada for his joke, whether he knew about her alopecia or not. The joke was cruel if he did and not so much if he thought it was a fashion statement, which is what I thought it was at first so I laughed at the joke. When I found out it was alopecia I realized why Rock got mad but I didn't think he should have done what he did.
I'm not that au courant with the details of the Smith marriage or what Jada is like as a person, but I did research alopecia a bit (I can certainly sympathize with someone suffering from this, one of my friends is too) and I learned that black women suffer from it especially although often they encourage it with those tight braids they favour. That's not good for the scalp and then led me down the rabbit hole of 'black women's hair' and how politicized it is and how it supposedly keeps them from better jobs. Quite educational, and I really don't give a damn why anyone's hair should be an issue unless it's an inhibitor of work in some way.
Anyway...my interest in the story was Smith's rank smug arrogance as he walked away, followed by his 'oh fuck' moment and not being terribly sympathetic when he got whacked with a 10-year ban. If he ever gets another award someone else will have to claim it for him. I agree with someone else here that it was probably an overreaction - maybe a five-year ban? - but I kind of like it because I hope it sends a message to America that there are (or should be) consequences for bad behaviour. Let's see if Trump is held to the same high standard as Will, for seditious crimes far worse than a global slap.
"The look on Smith's face - and I watched the video several times - was someone who was quite pleased with himself,"
There is so much bizarreness about Will's behaviour in those few moments. The fact that he was laughing initially, the insane decision to slap and swear at Chris Rock in front of the entire world, as you say, the smug walkaway. I thought about a follow-up article where I explored his motivations in more depth, but one celebrity article is about as much as I can stomach for the year. 😄
I wrote about this when it happened because there was so much going on here. I'm not at all convinced Will was entirely motivated by 'manhood', 'honour', and 'defending his woman'. Jada's eyeroll seemed disgusted at worst, it's not like she broke down in tears. The look on Smith's face - and I watched the video several times - was someone who was quite pleased with himself, who was all ego in that moment, which is why Denzel Washington uttered wisdom for the ages when he told Smith, "When you're at your peak, that's when the Devil comes for you." I get it - it's about that arrogance, that feeling you can do no wrong when you're in a particularly successful time in your life. I suspect just a few minutes after the incident he had that 'oh fuck' moment when he realized he'd fucked up supremely, which is why his Big Moment 45 minutes later was a lot less joyful for him than it might have been, because now everyone had had time to process what happened, he knew it too, and he went up there as a fucking idiot rather than a conquering Oscar hero.
I was quite disappointed in him because even though I'm not particularly a fan, I've always liked him as an actor and love the fact that he's a science & technology geek.
AFAIK Rock still hasn't apologized to Jada for his joke, whether he knew about her alopecia or not. The joke was cruel if he did and not so much if he thought it was a fashion statement, which is what I thought it was at first so I laughed at the joke. When I found out it was alopecia I realized why Rock got mad but I didn't think he should have done what he did.
I'm not that au courant with the details of the Smith marriage or what Jada is like as a person, but I did research alopecia a bit (I can certainly sympathize with someone suffering from this, one of my friends is too) and I learned that black women suffer from it especially although often they encourage it with those tight braids they favour. That's not good for the scalp and then led me down the rabbit hole of 'black women's hair' and how politicized it is and how it supposedly keeps them from better jobs. Quite educational, and I really don't give a damn why anyone's hair should be an issue unless it's an inhibitor of work in some way.
Anyway...my interest in the story was Smith's rank smug arrogance as he walked away, followed by his 'oh fuck' moment and not being terribly sympathetic when he got whacked with a 10-year ban. If he ever gets another award someone else will have to claim it for him. I agree with someone else here that it was probably an overreaction - maybe a five-year ban? - but I kind of like it because I hope it sends a message to America that there are (or should be) consequences for bad behaviour. Let's see if Trump is held to the same high standard as Will, for seditious crimes far worse than a global slap.
"The look on Smith's face - and I watched the video several times - was someone who was quite pleased with himself,"
There is so much bizarreness about Will's behaviour in those few moments. The fact that he was laughing initially, the insane decision to slap and swear at Chris Rock in front of the entire world, as you say, the smug walkaway. I thought about a follow-up article where I explored his motivations in more depth, but one celebrity article is about as much as I can stomach for the year. 😄