Will Smith/Chris Rock Oscars - where do you stand?

[Jaggerdagger]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-60898250

I'm a bit on the fence at the moment but shocked from watching this - wondered what others think?

YABU Will Smith had every right to wallop Chris. His wife was clearly deeply insulted. He deserved it.
YANBU Chris was just reading from a script and didn't deserve such a public assault.

I'm still more shocked by the smash hits poll winners party when Carter usm punched Phillip schofield live on stage though than will slapping Chris .

I don’t condone violence but I can see why he punched him.

Jada and Will didn’t make the last Oscar awards and Chris Rock was running his mouth making jokes about them then. Now this time round he’s making inappropriate jokes about Jada’s hair when she just stated in an interview that she has alopecia and she constantly feels low about it. Very bad taste to then make a ‘joke’ about it. I saw Will laughing at first but then I’m guessing he saw his wife wasn’t happy and had an outburst. He still won the Oscar which is great for him anyway🤷‍♀️

What got me is Chris’ reaction. I guess you can call it professional but I’m sure he would have been pissed backstage!

Jada doesn’t need a man to start performing toxic masculinity to ‘defend’ her. I’d be absolutely mortified if I was her. It doesn’t say much for his impulse control, he’s not ok. Agree that both of them should be apologising to her.

No excuse for violence. Bad joke but then Chris Rock isn't funny anyway so I'm not sure what anyone expected.

I don't think anyone is violent for the first on live tv.

@Auntieobem

If anyone had hit someone on stage at a venue they would have been thrown out. Will Smith got to stay. Violence is not acceptable (and smith seemed to be finding the joke funny until he saw his wife didnt)

Yes, Smith was shaking with laughter til he noticed that his wife wasn’t laughing. I didn’t even get the ‘joke’ ( Til I googled).

He’s taken all agency for Jada, instead of being able to talk about the ‘joke’ afterwards and say how distressing her condition is and what an arse CR was, she now has to do some kind silent, stand by your man routine in the red carpet.
I’d have been fucked off if DW had behaved like this, I wouldn’t have felt grateful or protected.
Jada is a grown woman who can speak for herself.

Each time these award roast happen, they get closer and closer to the line.

I read that the joke had something to do with Jadas alopecia, violence is never the right answer, but why does it become socially acceptable to take the piss out of someone because 'its just a roast'

Two wrongs don't make a right.

If you watch the extended version you can see Wills laugh at the beginning (I think) was for the joke CR made before

WS snapped. It's not okay. He's been the butt of many jokes regarding his wife over the last couple of years (Constant comparisons to Tupac, August Alsina- the 'entanglement') he has been meme fodder. Hearing CR insult his wife's medical condition was clearly the straw that broke the camels back.
It still wasn't okay though.

I suspect its more about the fact that Will laughed, then saw his wife didnt think it was funny, and in that moment the embarrassment turned to anger directed at Chris Rock

The joke wasnt that funny. Quite alot of Acadamy host jokes arent that funny, and leave the subject not looking amused. Thats no great story. But I think that it was less about defending his wife, than fury at being made to look as if he was also laughing at his wife. Toxic masculinity, the nice guy persona certainly slipped for a moment

I agree with you NettleTea

I have quite liked that they have had in recent years comedians laughing at the self importance of actors rather than with. I think the world has shifted in the last two years awards celebrating people doing what they love let’s face it for themselves isn’t celebrated by the wider public. The bubble has burst some what

29% think this was okay? And mostly women given it’s MN? Maybe this is why our society is so tolerant of male violence, even against women and children.

WS laughed at the 'joke', saw Jada was upset, so massively over-reacted to compensate.
WS & CR both dreadful.
JP the only one who comes out of this with any dignity.

@BloodyloveGeorge

He’s taken all agency for Jada, instead of being able to talk about the ‘joke’ afterwards and say how distressing her condition is and what an arse CR was, she now has to do some kind silent, stand by your man routine in the red carpet. I’d have been fucked off if DW had behaved like this, I wouldn’t have felt grateful or protected. Jada is a grown woman who can speak for herself.

Absolutely. I’ve just tried to explain this to my (not for much longer) H. He thinks Will Smith is brilliant for ‘standing up for his wife’. I think jada is more than capable of standing up for herself - in appropriate ways.

Instead, he’s made it all about him and his feelings. And detracted from her position I’m so many ways.

Utterly unacceptable.

Anybody who thinks Will Smith was justified needs to have a word with themselves. He assaulted a comedian for a telling a joke. Even if a joke is in bad taste, it's not the first time they do this and it certainly doesn't deserve assault.

They're both arseholes but Smith is the bigger one for resorting to violence and aggression and treating his wife like a voiceless child who needs defending.

Revolting behaviour.

I don’t think will looked well at all after. That maybe be why he got Chris or it may be because he did. I imagine that triggered a lot for him. I feel sorry for him tbh. Chris didn’t deserve to get hit at all though.

I have found CR funny in the past but mocking a devastating medical condition is really low.

I don't condone the violence.

But CR has really done himself no favours with such a cheap nasty pot shot.

I wonder if Jada feels better now? Did that punch make everything better? Or has it just caused her more stress and a worry because of the drama?
Big man Will probably feels good - but I just wonder who else has he punched?
Is this going to be one of those incidents that opens the flood gates of people coming forward to talk about being on the wrong end of his temper.

The thing is, if they had just looked annoyed, it would have hardly been reported on.

Now this incident will be talked about for years.

@Sockpile

Calling Chris out for offending his wife is fine, resorting to physical violence is not.

Agree.

Bizarre. It wasn’t a horrifically offensive joke, by the standards of the Oscars roastings. Chris Rock has made jokes about Jada before (when she wasn’t there) so it’s almost predictable he’d do it again. Will Smith lost all sense of proportion- there were far better ways to show his support for his wife and address it publicly.

@herecomesthehotsteppa

If you watch the extended version you can see Wills laugh at the beginning (I think) was for the joke CR made before

WS snapped. It's not okay. He's been the butt of many jokes regarding his wife over the last couple of years (Constant comparisons to Tupac, August Alsina- the 'entanglement') he has been meme fodder. Hearing CR insult his wife's medical condition was clearly the straw that broke the camels back.
It still wasn't okay though.

Thing is, even that explanation is all about him. The damage to his ego because his propertywife is being joked about. How it affects him.

Male violence so often is about their ego - even more so when it’s supposedly ‘standing up of their women’.

I have watched Jada’s Red Table Talk show. She openly discusses her condition and She advocates for womens right and female empowerment. I wouldn’t have though that she would want or need Will storming stages to defend her ‘honour’, unless of course that version of her is a lie

But there was nothing in that moment she could have done to defend herself, was there? Because that is the thing with 'jokes' like that.
The bully makes them and if you try to respond to it the taunting reply is ' I was only joking, can't you take a joke?' Any response from her would have made her look a 'humourless cow'.

I do think if you are in a couple you have each other's backs. If someone insults one of you, they have insulted both of you. You don't leave the other to deal with it alone. That's the whole point of being a couple, you don't have to go through life alone.

It would have been a much more powerful statement if WS & JP had got up and walked out

Totally agree.

There is so much wrong with this it’s hard to know where to start.

It makes me very sad indeed to see someone who has a rare opportunity and responsibility to set an example to the many people who look up to him, to choose to show that male violence is alive and well.

Male violence is so normalised in our society, it seems to be given exception to the normal rules.

The privilege showing here is astounding.
The reaction of the audience is astounding. The reaction of the Oscar’s production team surprises me. The commentary following on all major news channels surprises me.

I’m not sure of the running order,

but did they go on to award a trophy/accolade (Oscar) to the man who just casually committed an act of violence in front of millions of people ?

You can't strike someone because they said something you didn't like. It was a bit of a mean joke perhaps but people are routinely roasted at ceremonies like this.