Comedians often offend someone as part of their jokes so aibu to wonder if what Chris Rock said was actually that bad ?

[MisterRee]

Sort of playing devils advocate here, I’m a woman and I would feel humiliated if someone took the piss out of me on any stage let alone a world stage.
However, comedians are hired and/ or sold out because someone, somewhere finds them funny. Ricky Gervais roasted people much worse at BAFTAs etc.
Think of all the successful comedians, they probably don’t actually think the things they say… they do it because it is their job to do.

Maybe we should be angry at the Academy for booking comedians to present awards?

Aibu to think that the joke wasn’t too offensive compared to other comedic acts I’ve seen in the past?

Prepared to be in the wrong, just got me thinking

I don't think the joke was bad at all, in comparison to some jokes comedians tell. I'm sorry but I struggle to have sympathy for Jada. Being a multimillionaire partying at the Oscars must be so bloody difficult. She could have the finest wigs made if she wanted too. It was a joke. Will is the stupid one for reacting like that, especially seeing as he just sat there and took it when Jada admitted to shagging someone else on TV.

There is zero justification for a grown man to physically assault a comedian. What kind of precedent does that set! To be fair Jada has sported a close crop over the years and most people had no idea that she apparently had that condition. The worst hypocrisy though is that Will was very obviously laughing until Jada gave him the stink eye, so it felt like an overreaction and overcompensation for his own gaffe!

@My3cents1

Get balls deep in my wife, no problem. Make a tame joke about my wife, I will actually laugh then I’ll slap yo ass, verbally abuse you and then claim “ love makes you do crazy things” I’m sure we shall hear about Will going to some rehab and at some point he will sit on Oprah’s sofa and talk a lot of bollocks. He’s a complete twat.

What an absolutely disgusting attitude.

What has anything that went on in their marriage got to do with her medical condition being used as a 'joke' in front of God knows how many people?

The only person coming out of this with any dignity is Jada.

I am not so sure about this. Her character seems to be rather erm, self-obsessed. To say the least.

I swear some of you think she's lost all her hair or something? Jada isn't bald because she has alopecia. In her own words, she's bald because:

1 - her daughter made her do it. (Daughter is also bald)
2 - it's spiritual.
3 - she joked her hairline had moved back due to age.

Not once has she said she's bald due to alopecia. Yes, she has said she has alopecia but considering the evidence - she shows no sign of alopecia areata (round bald spots), she actually has a full head of hair (watch her shaving videos), and she's spoken specifically about her hairline - then it's very likely she's suffering from traction alopecia which is caused by strain on the hair follicles from tights braids, wigs, extensions etc. I have the same from years of extensions (haven't shaved my head though). Traction alopecia is not an illness nor an autoimmune condition. Saying Chris Rock picked on someone with a illness is unfair. I'm sure CR didn't even know about the hair loss as a shaved head has been a trendy hairstyle since 2017. So many women in Hollywood have shaved their heads over the years and I bet every single one of them heard the tired G I Jane joke more times than they could count - it's an iconic look.

CR could've got personal and joked about anything - her sleeping with her son's friends, open relationship, entanglements etc, but he chose the most vanilla joke/mundane observation - she looks like Demi Moore in G I Jane. Which she does - she would actually make a bloody good GI Jane which I'd watch in a heartbeat.

This woman is proudly bald by choice and I'm actually inclined to think the real reason she rolled her eyes was because she doesn't like Chris Rock after making jokes about her boycotting the Oscars in 2016. But between the slap and Will Smith's apology, the narrative was set that she has a medical condition so pr is going with it.

@My3cents1

Get balls deep in my wife, no problem. Make a tame joke about my wife, I will actually laugh then I’ll slap yo ass, verbally abuse you and then claim “ love makes you do crazy things” I’m sure we shall hear about Will going to some rehab and at some point he will sit on Oprah’s sofa and talk a lot of bollocks. He’s a complete twat.

This

@MisterRee

My partner has male pattern baldness and said that men being bald has been the butt of jokes since he can remember.

This wasn't a general joke about baldness. It was personal humiliation and mockery targeted at one person.

Imagine DH has accompanied you to the dinner-of-the-year prizegiving for your prestigious career. The compere then targets your husband by name for cruel smears about your husband's appearance.

I have a body part that I'm insecure about and if I was publically mocked, or even privately I would be really hurt. If it was a medical condition, even more so.

She looks awesome by the way but I know that isn't the point.

Why is a comparison to GI Jane offensive at all?! Didn't Demi Moore shave her head for the role? A role about a female Navy Seal? Why was the comparison offensive? There was no implication she was ugly/useless in some way.

I'd missed the information that she has alopecia, I just thought it was a short style because she has a beautiful face. Doesn't her daughter have her hair like that too sometimes?

When I first saw it I thought the violence was for the first bit where he said 'I love you Jada' and it was because he'd been having an affair!

I know a couple of men who are shorter than average and they are continually being teased about it. It pisses me off. Men shouldn't be teased about being bald either.

@Usinlimbo

I thought Jada looked fantastic, and I also thought Demi Moore looked fantastic in GI Jane, so am I alone in thinking that CR was paying a very badly received compliment?

I don't think he was.

This wasn't a general joke about baldness. It was personal humiliation and mockery targeted at one person.

Imagine DH has accompanied you to the dinner-of-the-year prizegiving for your prestigious career. The compere then targets your husband by name for cruel smears about your husband's appearance.

What is makes comparing a woman with a buzz cut to GI Jane a 'cruel smear'? I have to admit I have never seen GI Jane is she some kind of monster or something?

I thought the joke was pretty tame to be honest, all he was doing was making a quip about her hairstyle (which he may or may not have known was chosen because of a medical condition). It wasn't particularly amusing, but then jokes at awards ceremonies rarely are.

But someone in the public eye is fair game to be the butt of a joke. Will Smith's wife is in the public eye by the very fact of being his wife, and that she chooses to accompany him to events like the Oscars. People ridicule Boris Johnson's appearance all the time, the same for Donald Trump or Cherie Blair, so I've no issue with Will Smith's wife being mocked in this way.

@knittingaddict

Oh yeh, it was definitely a woman taking herself too seriously.

He picked on a black woman with a medical condition that can wreck your self esteem. Way to go CR.

Is her colour relevant or do you mean he wouldn’t have said it to a white woman?

@WeDontShutUpAboutBruno

Nope, the disgusting attitude lies with Smith.

Taking the piss out of someone because of their medical condition or disability is shite. However, the correct response was to shake his head and release a statement afterwards or even walk out. Not lamp Chris Rock.

I honestly don’t think either of them are right and I’ve never liked either of them as people anyway, they’re both arseholes. Comedians do say offensive shit, that’s kind of the whole point of comedy unless you’re a family friendly (boring) comic like Michael Macintyre. If you watch the recording Will laughs at the joke until he sees the fact Jada isn’t impressed, only then did he fly off the handle.

I think the punching down / punching up rule generally works well in working out whether something is below the belt or not. Punching up is ok, punching down isn't.

In the Chris Rock/JPS case she's a black woman with alopecia. I'm not a black woman but even I know that hair is an important part of a black woman's identity. Alopecia is also a medical condition. Based on that it's fair to say Rock was punching down, not up.

@bellepeppa Yes her colour is relevant. Ironically, Chris Rock's own documentary, "Good Hair", explains why, although imo Regina Kimble's "My Nappy Roots" is better and came first).

Sorry, it's Regina Kimball, not Kimble.

Christ, I've seen some terrible takes on this whole thing but "I don't feel sorry for her because she's rich and can buy wigs" might be the most ridiculous of all.

@RoastedFerret

I think there is an assumption from some people that thrive on celeb gossip that everyone must know that Jada has alopecia whereas most of us wouldn't have a clue, looking at her it looks like a number 1 cut. It doesn't seem like CR and the Smiths are friends why would he have known? I think it's quite plausible that he saw he with a shaved head and thought she chose to shave her head. JPS has had all kinds of haircuts, in fact I just googled her and saw an article about her debuting her new 'buzz cut' where it doesn't mention alopecia at all and says that JPS said 'it was time to let go." "My 50s are bout to be divinely lit with this shed"

I suppose what I am saying is I'm not sure where this assumption that he even knew he was making a joke about alopecia rather than a joke about a hair cut has come from?

I am not remotely clued up on celebrity trivia and I knew JPS had alopecia. I think it's hard to believe a contemporary of the Smiths, an actor/comedian who probably moves in the same circles, didn't know it

@Amrapaali

It wasn't that bad a joke. TBH it wasn't even a joke. Deeply unfunny. But Americans seems to take themselves so seriously. Especially the Hollywood luvvies.

I am thinking if this had happened in Britain- most probably it would have been laughed off. Or Chris Rock would have been heckled mercilessly.

Instead Will Smith was coming across all so Marvel comic hero. Just utterly embarassing

I agree with this perspective.

I think that although Rock's "joke" was unfunny and not particularly in good taste, comedians should be able to say whatever they like about any subject under the sun. Comedy is the final bastion of free speech, in my view, anyway. I've always believed the remit of of comedy is that everyone and everything may be commented upon.

If, as a comedian, you're going to be provocative and perhaps even outrightly offensive then expecting a slap or two along the way is probably par for course. I personally don't think Rock's unfunny (in my opinion) joke warranted Smith's unproportionate reaction, though.

I very much doubt that Chris Rock expected to be walloped by Will Smith any more than the Charlie Hebdo staff expected to be shot dead - an extreme comparison, I know, but both outcomes were as a result of someone not finding the actions of another 'funny' when they were absolutely intended as such.

If the Charlie Hebdo case didn't put a stop to religiously-targeted satire, then Chris Rock getting slapped by Will Smith certainly isn't going to stop comedians from picking on anyone. And, thank fuck for that because when comedy has to exist by rote of that which is only deemed 'appropriate' then none of us will be laughing at anything.

I'm not a fan of Katie Price but think Frankie Boyle was a grade A shit making jokes about her son.

Agree with @Tabitha005 - next time someone's on stage at a similar event will they be steering clear of subjects in case they get physically assaulted after (as opposed to out of a sense of decency)?