Neely Karimi: The Will Smith slap may have revived the Academy Awards
Will Smith’s assault on Chris Rock at the Academy Awards was a moment that will be talked about for years – and the Oscars are lapping it up, writes Neely Karimi.
Opinion
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Was Will Smith’s post-slap award speech the most powerful display of spin we’ve ever seen?
For a long time now the Academy Awards have been sledged by critics for being boring, and the numbers have supported the argument. Year after year, fewer and fewer people tune in.
However one single slap may have changed the course of Oscars history.
It only took one look at Chris Rock’s shocked expression after he is dealt said slap by Will Smith to convince me that it wasn’t a staged moment but we can’t be sure.
We can be sure however that our newsroom and every newsroom around the country was embroiled in Oscars debate as Twitter exploded with live reactions.
The longer than usual ad-break that followed the slap, pre-empting the Best Actor award which Will Smith had been the front runner for, was likely filled with producers, organisers, PR people and security guards abuzz with what to do … Kick him out? Keep him in?
Their decision may have been the more fruitful one because Smith’s winning speech was nothing short of a spectacular display of spin.
Appearing with tears in his eyes, he opens with “Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family,” referring to the titular character in King Richard, to a crowd staring back at him with visible awkwardness.
He discusses protecting his cast mates, he discusses shining a light on the crew, he apologises to the Academy and his fellow nominees and everything he says is thinly veiled to refer to the altercation that just occurred.
Take Smith’s statement: “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 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 and you got to pretend like that’s OK.”
Is slapping someone for a bad joke the answer?
Smith finishes with a line so perfect it changes the atmosphere from aftershock to celebratory, “art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like what they said about Richard Williams.”
Suddenly the slap is explained away as protective outburst, akin to something the great Richard Williams would have done and despite the guests witnessing what you can safely say was assault only minutes before, he is met with a standing ovation.
As a viewer I’m pretty aghast at the decision to keep him in the awards. As a social media editor I’m titillated by the content it’s produced.
I don’t think it was staged but if it was? That’s some of the best acting I’ve ever seen – making Smith’s Best Actor award truly well-deserved.
Neely Karim is a social media editor at The Advertiser
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