Russell Brand says Will Smith slap broke illusion of perfect Oscars world

Comedian Russell Brand believes the infamous slap by Will Smith is a sign that the Oscars are over.

The infamous Will Smith slap broke the illusion of the Oscars and the event can no longer “sustain its existence as an alternate reality where everything is OK”, according to comedian Russell Brand.

In a rambling 15-minute YouTube video, Brand has used the moment Smith smacked comedian Chris Rock in the face on stage to justify his view on the meaninglessness of the awards ceremony.

“I felt the seeping encroachment of the real world crept into the Oscars,” he said.

“Like the presence of the Ukrainian conflict, the awareness of the last two years of pandemic – the sense of a broken and vicious culture could not be kept at bay even with all the sequins and velvet and celebration. It slipped in in the form of a slap.”

Russell Brand has told his viewers to “wake up” during a 15 minute video about the Oscars and Will Smith’s infamous slap. Picture: YouTube

The 46-year-old said he could sympathise with Chris Rock, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, and imagine himself in all three positions and therefore could not judge them.

“I wouldn’t like to be smacked in the mouth while I’m on stage doing some jokes, I wouldn’t like to hear my wife abused, I wouldn’t like to hear something I’m sensitive about ridiculed,” he explained to his 5.42 million subscribers.

He questioned whether people picking sides really cared about what happened or the people involved, or if they were just trying to find meaning in the “spectacle”.

Brand said the slap, watched by millions around the world, “broke the framework of the Oscars”.

“What interests me is the phenomena of the Oscars. Why are we even having Oscars? Don’t you think what this shows us is our reality can no longer sustain it,” he said.

“What I suppose I learned from that Oscars spectacle is the reality we’re being invited to live in – the cultural reality, because it’s not an objective thing, it’s a construct – it’s falling apart,” he added. “It’s falling apart because it needs to fall apart.

“It’s over. Can you really stay invested in it? Of course we care when we see some little moment of drama in the same way that if I looked out a window and saw someone smack someone in the mouth.

“But being invited to garnish it with social and cultural meaning is I think a kind of trick.”

He added that he was not condemning people for finding the Oscars seductive, which he called a “festival of meaningless”.

“That’s what glamour does,” he said, but told his audience to “wake up”.

Russell Brand said he wouldn’t pick sides over the incident. Picture: Robyn Beck / AFP

It was a distasteful joke about Pinkett Smith that led to the infamous Oscars slap.

“Jada, I love ya. G.I Jane 2, can’t wait to see it,” Rock joked, in reference to Pinkett Smith’s shaved head.

Actress Demi Moore famously cut her hair for the 1997 film G.I. Jane, but Pinkett Smith has been open with her struggles with alopecia areata, an auto-immune disorder that leads to hair loss.

The camera cut to Pinkett Smith and Smith in the audience, where the actor was initially seen laughing while his wife was visibly unimpressed and rolled her eyes.

Moments later, Smith stormed the stage to confront Rock, slapping him in the face.

When Smith returned to his seat he shouted “keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth” as the audience fell silent.

Less than 30 minutes later, Smith won the Oscar for best actor and in his acceptance speech apologised to the Academy and fellow nominees but not Rock.

The next day, Smith released a statement apologising to Rock.

“Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally,” he wrote.

“I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith on the 94th Oscars red carpet unknowing of what was to come. Picture: Angela Weiss / AFP

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has launched a formal review into the incident, and has since revealed Smith was asked to vacate the Dolby Theatre after “the deeply shocking, traumatic event”, but the King Richard star stood his ground and went on to receive best actor to a standing ovation.

It admitted it could have handled the situation differently.

As reported by Deadline, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors has given Smith “15 days’ notice of a vote regarding his violations and sanctions, and the opportunity to be heard beforehand by means of a written response”.