Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think will smith shouldn’t have been allowed to collect his award after hitting Chris Rock

174 replies

LovelyYellowLabrador · 28/03/2022 14:02

Yanbu he should not have been allowed
Yabu they were right or let him

I think he should have been arrested and kicked out
He is a disgrace and a mess

OP posts:
OverWorking9to5 · 28/03/2022 15:06

Yeh, i watched the clip and Jada's eyeroll said i5 all. No need to follow it up with q punch.

SickAndTiredAgain · 28/03/2022 15:06

@Mrsjayy

Well that article Is saying Academy members want his Oscar removed so that has to sting, I don't think Chris Rock will be asked back.
I don’t think he will either, due to the backlash. But I’d assumed (and I could definitely be wrong about this) that the academy would vet the monologues and jokes, so if that’s right I don’t think they are in a moral high ground to say Rock was wrong.

To be clear, I think it was an awful joke, I just mean that if they did approve it, they aren’t really in the best position to now criticise it.

girlmom21 · 28/03/2022 15:08

When he laughed in the beginning, I can only assume he didn't get the 'joke'.

The way he causally strolled up, bitch slapped him and walked off with a smirk on his face was really strange.

I don't know why you would do that. I don't understand the smirk.

The 'joke' was in bad taste. They always are at these weird events.

I think Chris Rock handled the slap well to be fair.

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 28/03/2022 15:08

@Northernlurker

So if the positions were reversed do we think Rock would made a joke specifically and only about Will's hair? And do we think if Jada had seen the look of hurt on the face of her husband as a result do we think she would have steamed in?

I think the answers are no and yes.

Fundamentally this happened because a man in a position of power chose to humiliate a woman. If violence is not ok then why is humiliation ok?

I favour an all are punished approach. Rock got slapped and hopefully will think twice, Smith has had his moment of glory totally screwed up at his own hands. Enough,

Interesting way to think about it. Both have been humiliated publicly and both of their career's will be tinted by this. Rock not as much as he is now the 'victim', but you're right, perhaps now he'll think about how the jokes are being received.

(Side note: I first read this as The Rock and thought somehow Dwayne Johnson was involved!)

SevenWaystoLeave · 28/03/2022 15:08

Anyone other than an A-list star would have been thrown out of the building at the very least.

bellabasset · 28/03/2022 15:09

I'm not defending Will Smith's reaction but I feel it's understandable. This was a show that is being broadcast worldwide so was this a scripted joke or an impromptu one? Who could think it's appropriate to make such a comment on the worldwide stage to a woman with a distressing condition? If you sent Will Smith off then you'd have had to stop the whole thing and send Chris Rock off as well.

Wintersbone · 28/03/2022 15:09

He got in one little fight and his mom got mad.....

Sharrowgirl · 28/03/2022 15:10

Fundamentally this happened because a man in a position of power chose to humiliate a woman. If violence is not ok then why is humiliation ok?

It’s not ok. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. CR’s joke was humiliating and unacceptable. WS’s behaviour was violent and unacceptable.

girlmom21 · 28/03/2022 15:10

Both have been humiliated publicly and both of their career's will be tinted by this.

I don't think Will Smith's career will be tainted by it. I think it'll be ignored by most and celebrated by anyone who does bring it up professionally. But only because people love him anyway.

Iwonder08 · 28/03/2022 15:12

Well done Will Smith. If anything he should have kicked him harder

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 28/03/2022 15:13

@girlmom21

When he laughed in the beginning, I can only assume he didn't get the 'joke'.

The way he causally strolled up, bitch slapped him and walked off with a smirk on his face was really strange.

I don't know why you would do that. I don't understand the smirk.

The 'joke' was in bad taste. They always are at these weird events.

I think Chris Rock handled the slap well to be fair.

I agree. I think he laughed because he knew reactions were being filmed, there was a camera pointing at them and laughing at the jokes (regardless of if they are funny) is part and parcel of the Oscars.

His stroll up to CR was clearly a power play. Rock is smiling at him and Smith is almost strutting. The smirk after was, I think, supposed to be aimed at Jada in a "see babe? I defended you".

Also, there is a whole narrative about Smith being seen as 'soft'. The whole issue with Jada and Tupac, their supposed open marriage, Jada's affair and their gentle parenting approach, plenty of rappers and those in their community view Smith as a joke. I think he's been dealing with that for a number of years and finally saw an opportunity to defend himself as well.

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 28/03/2022 15:15

@girlmom21

Both have been humiliated publicly and both of their career's will be tinted by this.

I don't think Will Smith's career will be tainted by it. I think it'll be ignored by most and celebrated by anyone who does bring it up professionally. But only because people love him anyway.

True but surely people will see him as unstable or at least hold their tongues around him a bit more. There have been rumours about him being a diva to work with for years, maybe this will cement this in people's minds.
Annasgirl · 28/03/2022 15:19

@Iwonder08

Well done Will Smith. If anything he should have kicked him harder
really? Have we got to the point on this forum that people openly advocate violence against offensive talk? I hope you are only posting that to get a rise out of people - I really hope you don't believe this.
AthenaPopodopolous · 28/03/2022 15:20

Hmm, i think a wisecrack like this deserved a slap. Chris Rocks humour is nasty and apparently he was one of the worst celebs interviewed by Richard Madelly (aka Richard and Judy ITV).
I think Will Smiths fake remorseful crying was worse though. He should have just left and not accepted the award after slapping him.
Then you have the Oscar celebs saying violence is never acceptable yet the movies are always full of violence and conflict...

AnakinthePadawhine · 28/03/2022 15:21

WS behaved like a clown, and will be treated like an unstable clown for the next few years, and it will be well deserved. He should have been escorted out and not allowed to get his award, the silly simp.
The violence was completely unwarranted, should never be excused, and his speech afterward was the mark of a man off his rocker ("vessel of love". Ah!). What do you expect from a man that hounded out an actress from a show because she was popular, and that is affiliated with Scientology?

Chris Rock had his speech approved, even with the bad taste joke, and will get a nice bonus, as he was not protected by his bosses and security.
The whole Oscars are bad taste anyway, why should a joke about JS's hair traumatize anything? The woman puts her life on blast anyway with her navel gazing documentaries.

Cornettoninja · 28/03/2022 15:22

Honesty WS’s behaviour was something I wouldn’t have been surprised to see from Kanye West or Katie Price, both the actual slapping in the middle of a show and the pathetic adrenaline and he clearly displayed afterwards.

He wasn’t making a statement on jada’s behalf he was inflating his own ego with a complete lack of respect for the professional environment he was in.

Genevie82 · 28/03/2022 15:22

I’m with @Anniefrenchfry

Publicly humiliating a woman with a condition thats properly caused them years of upset is pretty disgusting bullying dressed up as humour. I can’t blame will smith for having a moment of rage and giving a him a slap when he saw his wife’s hurt face. Chris Rock will get over it …

VampireMoney · 28/03/2022 15:23

What with this he deserved it and I don't condone violence but...

What the fuck is wrong with you people??

AnakinthePadawhine · 28/03/2022 15:25

@Genevie82

I’m with *@Anniefrenchfry*

Publicly humiliating a woman with a condition thats properly caused them years of upset is pretty disgusting bullying dressed up as humour. I can’t blame will smith for having a moment of rage and giving a him a slap when he saw his wife’s hurt face. Chris Rock will get over it …

The world of Thin skinned people is very violent.
Anon778833 · 28/03/2022 15:28

He slapped him with an open hand. He shouldn’t have done it but I can completely understand why he did.

Anon778833 · 28/03/2022 15:29

I think we now live in a world where men are a bunch of wet blankets who sit by and do nothing to defend their wives because they’re cowardly.

girlmom21 · 28/03/2022 15:31

@MondaysChild7

I think we now live in a world where men are a bunch of wet blankets who sit by and do nothing to defend their wives because they’re cowardly.
You can defend someone without resorting to physically violence.

His shouting at him afterwards - the venom he spoke with - was more powerful than the assault IMO.

Anon778833 · 28/03/2022 15:32

@girlmom21 I agree

steff13 · 28/03/2022 15:33

@Turningpurple

I genuinely don't know how this works, bit does no one vet the presenters jokes before hand?

I assumed they were. But maybe not. Ne ause I can't understand why no one thought CR was going to far with it.

Yes, but when they're up there on stage they can pretty much say whatever they want. There is a few second delay, in case they swear, so it can be bleeped, but that's it.
ArtVandalay · 28/03/2022 15:34

@MondaysChild7

I think we now live in a world where men are a bunch of wet blankets who sit by and do nothing to defend their wives because they’re cowardly.
I can defend myself.

My husband does not do it for me. I am not his chattel. If he behaved like this just once, he wouldn't be my husband anymore. I had the good wit to marry someone who like me, can use words rather than being a thug.