The snap, not the slap is the worrying part of the Will Smith-Chris Rock attack
It was all in the name of love. Love, allegedly, makes you do crazy things.
No, Will Smith. Love is faking a “little death” every once in a while to save your partner some face. It’s not acting like Barry Hall during his brain snap days of the AFL.
The Smith and Chris Rock incident has so many layers to it that it’s resembling a trifle. Except it’s like that trifle from Friends when Rachel accidentally put meat in the dish. The slap was the meat in the Oscars dish.
Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, acclaimed actor Jada Pinkett-Smith, potentially starring in a remake of G.I Jane — a reference to Ridley Scott’s original 1997 film that starred Demi Moore as a shaved-headed marine. Pinkett-Smith is bald, the result of a degenerative hair loss condition called alopecia. It’s a condition that is mired in stigma.
Smith laughed at the initial joke. Pinkett-Smith grimaced and clenched her jaw. Not a minute later Smith stormed the stage, slapped Rock, and returned to his seat before screaming “Get my wife’s name out your f … ing mouth” at the comedian.
The snap, not the slap is the worrying part of this incident.
The ownership. The audacity.
Smith’s 180 from giggling, smiling and playing along with Rock’s sketch to over-protective alpha male was frightening. His emotional pendulum swung so sharply that in the space of a few hours we saw laughter, blind rage, tears and euphoria all in one man. And women are supposed to be the hysterical ones?
Take away the dinner suits and couture fashion and the Oscars this year reeked of a bogan pub with more sticky situations than a carpet stained with stale draught beer and rum and Cokes.
One false look, a side glance or cheeky comment about someone’s “Mrs” after last drinks are called could set off a chain of events ending in an all-in-brawl.
The speed at which Smith morphed was the terrifying part.
It’s important to note the actor, renowned for being Hollywood’s “Mr Nice Guy”, has a well documented and complex relationship with masculinity, race and violence. Issues he canvassed in his book released last year.
But the sting on Rock’s face is still being felt.
While we should be focusing on all the good things that came out of the Awards, like the first Muslim actor, the first openly queer woman of colour and the first deaf person to win these prestigious accolades — it was all overshadowed by Smith’s abhorrent behaviour.
Rock has declined to press charges according to the LA police department. The Academy was quick to point out it doesn’t condone violence with a tepid tweet although also said it is “investigating”. .
Smith has now apologised to Rock calling his onstage slap “inexcusable”. Twenty-four hours later. Quick to act, slow to deal with the consequences.
There were immediate calls for him to be stripped of his Best Actor award. So will the Academy then revoke convicted sex predator and rapist Harvey Weinstein’s Best Picture gong and the other 81 awards he had a hand in winning?
Smith will no doubt use this as a vehicle to further promote himself with an apology tour on the talk show circuit, including his wife’s popular chat show Red Table Talk.
Meanwhile, remember when Janet Jackson — another formidable Black artist — was universally shamed and became an early victim of cancel culture due to a wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 Super Bowl?
Jackson was vilified, while boy band star Justin Timberlake — the singer who revealed her nipple to more than 140 million viewers — responded with “Hey man, we love giving you all something to talk about”.
He went on to climb the charts and land major movie roles. She vanished.
Smith danced the night away celebrating the pinnacle of his career. Gripping his gold statue while bopping out to his own song, Gettin’ Jiggy With It, holding court on a packed dance floor at the Oscars after-party like he didn’t have a care in the world.
If only there were awards for lack of self-awareness.
While we rage about men’s rage, it’s the silence of the woman at the centre of this “scandal” that speaks volumes.
Pinkett-Smith’s eye roll. Jackson being admonished. They sit. They seethe. Quietly. Patiently. Painfully. No one likes a mad woman. But, after Smith’s display, the tide may be turning on mad men.
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