Will Smith punches Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars.

[CheeseMuffin]

I think I speak for us all when I ask WTF just happened?

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/mar/27/will-smith-punch-chris-rock-wife-joke-gi-jane-video-oscars

@3luckystars

Will smith walked up on the stage, what could he do then, it was too late to go and sit back down. Could he have called him away for a chat? He was all fired up then, he couldn’t turn back, he had to keep going, just I wish he hadn’t hit him. There are other ways of dealing with things but once he had walked up on the stage, his choices were limited.

Nonsense - he could have put his hand on Chris Rock’s shoulder and said something like “that’s going too far, you’re insulting my wife and everyone who suffers the same condition, don’t you think you should apologise?” and he’d have been hailed a hero.

@Annasgirl

I’m totally shocked and disgusted that so many women are coming in to this post and saying CR deserved to be hit. No one ever deserves to be hit. My God, if this is so many women’s attitude to male violence, we will never end it.

I couldn't agree more.

What if it had been a woman instead of Chris Rock making the joke, would he have slapped her too. He laughed at first when Chris said what he did. What an absolute moron.

@ilovesushi

Horrible joke. I think most DHs/ DPs would do the same or want to do the same if their wife/ partner was made the butt of an unpleasant joke about her physical appearance in front of a live audience of Hollywood folk and a worldwide audience of gazillions. She looked beautiful but who knows what insecurities she faces. Will Smith will know and the joke crossed a line.

I agree.

@Sally090807

What if it had been a woman instead of Chris Rock making the joke, would he have slapped her too. He laughed at first when Chris said what he did. What an absolute moron.

Maybe Jada would of done it if it was a women…

@Bambooshoot

I agree that would have absolutely been the best scenario but human beings love hindsight.

I’m not prepared to write WS off over this. Screams cancel culture. He made a mistake, which wasn’t entirely of his own doing.

I must say I agree completely with Will Smith and believe he was defending his wife,
I think some posters are going way overboard insinuating that Will must be a violent man and probably hits his wife and I completely disagree with posters calling for this man to be canceled .. utter nonsense,
He reacted to his wife's distain to the derogatory and humiliating comment Chris Rock made about her,
He did laugh initially but when he realized his wife was not laughing and clearly upset by the comment , Will realized she was upset and reacted in the heat of the moment, it was a moment of flawed humanity on Will Smiths part, yes he is a famous actor but he is also human and has feelings and does not want to see his wife hurt and humiliated on a televised award ceremony watched by millions of people all over the world.

3luckystars there's so many things he could have done once he was on that stage. He could have spoken out against inappropriate jokes, he could have simply said how beautiful his wife looked, he could have educated the audience about alopecia, he could have turned him walking up to CR into a joke (given him a ribbing perhaps) or he could have just changed his mind and walked away.

It also stinks of arrogance. To think he can walk up onto a stage like that, infront of the world, punch someone and then shout across the room, swearing, knowing he's been watched by millions in a room full of his peers. Truly disgusting behaviour and to then he handed an awarded and receive a standing ovation just minutes later. In what other industry would that be ok?

When you think back to all these types of incidents in the past-Kanye West taking the microphone off Taylor Swift, Jarvis Cocker flapping his hands to the camera during Michael Jacksons earth song (he even got arrested for that!), Adele flipping the bird for being cut short on the brits. This is without doubt the most scandalous.

Eyedropeyeflop let's see if he owns that mistake though because the photos of him at the after party suggest he wasn't remorseful in the slightest.

@Rosehugger

Chris Rock has had that coming for years, misogynistic arsehole. Good.

This

[quote LampLighter414]@LondonWolf sorry if my point wasn't clear. All I was saying is that if it had been say Kristen Bell sat there with her husband with a shaved head due to a medical condition then no comedian, white or black, would have ever made that joke in the first place. And if they had then there would have been uproar.

It doesn't justify Will's response.

I do feel if he had indeed just sat there and said nothing (the right thing to do). I think there would have been zero consequence on Chris Rock. Unlike if this had been made about a white female Hollywood celeb.[/quote]
Do we know that he knew it wasn't just a fashion choice? Do celebs really keep up with each others hair? It doesn't really sound like they are mates.

Anyway the joke was shit, Wills response was awful and now the whole world knows that Jada is losing her hair. None of it was acceptable and Jada is the only one I feel sorry for in all of this.

So, people have been taking the piss because she has other lovers? And he’s not allowed to get arsey about that… you can imagine can’t you that it could build up a bit of anger in there. Combine that with whatever cocktail he’s on.
The Oscars is a load of BS it’s just a shame that some people (kids) have these messed up role models.
I agree with the Spanish article up thread, the incident has disgusting misogyny woven right through it. About what I’d expect from Hollywood.

I think some posters are going way overboard insinuating that Will must be a violent man

He is a violent man, that isn't up for debate, he showed that by being violent in front of millions of people.

Thank goodness Chris Rock didn’t insult Alec Baldwin’s wife!

@3luckystars

Will smith walked up on the stage, what could he do then, it was too late to go and sit back down. Could he have called him away for a chat? He was all fired up then, he couldn’t turn back, he had to keep going, just I wish he hadn’t hit him. There are other ways of dealing with things but once he had walked up on the stage, his choices were limited.

He could have continued his walk up there, said firmly "Apologise to my wife and let's move on" then gone back to his seat and not ruined the most important event of his career to date. Or overshadowed the winner of the category being presented. Or tarnished the night for his colleagues on the film.

He would have been widely applauded for doing so. He would have made his later speech meaningful rather than a rambling non apology. He would have been the hero of the night.

Instead he was violent. His choices weren't limited. He just made shit ones.

[quote Eyedropeyeflop]@okayigetit

No you’re shocked because someone got slapped dear, oh and it wasn’t a joke. Openly calling out how a woman looks because of a health condition isn’t funny. Can’t say I’m that shocked about the slap. ❄️[/quote]
Actually I'm shocked at peoples inability to admit that two things are wrong at the same time, I don't agree with every unfunny joke that Chris Rock makes, although by his standards the GI Jane joke was incredibly tame, but I also don't agree with violence as reaction to someone saying something you don't like or that upsets you. Will smith himself has said he is against violence lol

@BoredZelda

Yea, I woke up with sympathy for the Hollywood elite too today, then opened my gas bill, my pay slip and turned on the news....

Can you give us the financial cut off where people aren’t allowed to have any problems just because they have money?

I mean, I can afford all my bills, no worries there, but I’m not as rich as the Pinkett-smiths. Is it ok for people to make fun of my alopecia? Am I allowed to feel really bad for having a bald patch that’s bigger than 50% of my scalp? Or do I have to be happy about it because I can afford my gas bill? Just so we know at which financial level we can feel better about other life altering things.

I tell you what, if you could draw up a graph in exchange for me that would be great.

If you could highlight the areas that physically harming another human being is acceptable, and where it is not acceptable please.

I see that making a joke at ones wife's expense is ok, so that is a starting point for you.

Where would mocking my religion fall? I assume I could punch someone for that?

How about mocking Texans and their 'dumb' ways, and white middle class women called Karen's, that is also ok given the Oscars Baromoter.

@RoastedFerret

I think some posters are going way overboard insinuating that Will must be a violent man

He is a violent man, that isn't up for debate, he showed that by being violent in front of millions of people.

I’d hardly say a slap from a man makes him a violent man. Honestly… I fluff pillows harder then Will slapped Chris 😂

@Habitatty282

Oh I’ve seen the videos and I’m glad he had a good night. He shouldn’t have let the disrespectful joke completely ruin his night. He apologised to the academy.

@BeHappy91818

Looool 😂😂

@EvilGoldfish

Lol I think it's more snowflakey reacting how will smith did to a lame joke than it is being shocked over a physical assault on telly!

EXACTLY this! I imagine the people cheering Will Smith on may also have strong views about things.

Doesn’t even matter which side of the fence you fall on. Have you ever have a strong opinion on a religion, babies with pierced ears, racism, people on benefits, politics?

Is it ok if a person gets offended by whatever your view is, takes it personally, and physically attacks you for it?

Because anyone condoning Will Smith’s actions is advocating for exactly that. Someone, somewhere will be mortally offended/emotionally hurt by an opinion you hold. If you voice it, is it ok for anyone to smack you?

Agreed, there are a lot of strong opinions on Mumsnet about transgenderism for example, there's a whole thread dedicated to it, if I said something relating to transgenderism and someone came and smacked me one I'd be surprised if a lot of people here agreed with their actions

[quote Eyedropeyeflop]@EvilGoldfish

Everyone has opinions on such matters. An opinion is different to a personal attack because it wasn’t a joke. It really wasn’t. He openly insulted his wife publically.[/quote]
The insult was that she looked like GI Jane? Who was a strong attractive character

@RoastedFerret

I think some posters are going way overboard insinuating that Will must be a violent man

He is a violent man, that isn't up for debate, he showed that by being violent in front of millions of people.

He reacted to a very nasty comment made about his wife, ask yourself this, if someone made a such a derogatory remark to one of your loved one, say your mum or your child if they were suffering from alopecia, and some pointed at them, laughed at them and humiliated them would not be fit to react in a similar fashion?

I don't think Will Smith was laughing along at the 'joke' until he saw Jada's reaction.
I think he was laughing along with CR's pre-joke patter and then when he came out with what he did it took a split second to register what had been said.

CR was entirely in the wrong to have made a joke about any woman's appearance and he is pretty despicable really.

WS was wrong to hit him but can you imagine how you'd feel, already keyed up with nerves / anticipation about being nominated for an Oscar (and say what you like it is still a big film industry deal to get one), and then a comedian humiliates your wife? Why pick on his wife, if he wanted to 'roast' someone, it should have been WS himself surely? Partners and kids should be off bounds.

Actually I hate this 'roasting' thing altogether. No good can come of it and it's low humour.

I think the whole thing looked very odd and stage managed, though I also believe it was not scripted at all. Strange that WS slapped him rather than punching him. Agree that it would have been far better if WS had gone up and taken the mic and called CR out for the comment.

He reacted to a very nasty comment made about his wife, ask yourself this, if someone made a such a derogatory remark to one of your loved one, say your mum or your child if they were suffering from alopecia, and some pointed at them, laughed at them and humiliated them would not be fit to react in a similar fashion?

Don't you think many of us DO hear nasty comments about loved ones? Of course we do. And guess what? We don't punch them.