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AIBU?

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Original poster

Will Smith could have made a different choice.

146 replies

Lilifer · 31/03/2022 09:53

He had several moments to think about it as he made his way up to the podium. He could have calmly taken the mircrophone from Chris Rocks hand and addressed the audience on behalf of himself and Jada to say that joke was unacceptable (which it was) and then he could have invited Chris Rock to make a public apology there and then, which CR would have had to do , would have had no choice really, then WS could have returned to his seat dignity intact, showing the world how words rather than violence can be used to good effect, and this silly ugly petulant toxic masculinity nonsense could have been avoided. He revealed a very ugly side to himself. He should have been escorted out of that event for that behaviour.

OP posts:
Original poster
Lilifer · 31/03/2022 10:15

@Ocsetldil

He’ll be off to rehab soon,I reckon
Yes I think so for some reputation rehabilitation 🙁
OP posts:
Original poster
Lilifer · 31/03/2022 10:16

@NuffSaidSam

I think if he'd had the foresight and anger management skills to make a different choice then he would have done.

He should have made a different choice. But I doubt he was able to in the moment. That's the problem!

The joke wasn't great, but the physical violence was absolutely and completely unacceptable.

Yes totally agree
OP posts:
Moonmelodies · 31/03/2022 10:16

You'd hope the Black Lives Matter campaign would have made people think twice about hitting a black guy, on liveTV or not.

Original poster
Lilifer · 31/03/2022 10:18

@Laptopsandmouses
"Oh I’m sorry op I didn’t realise you only wished people to respond if they agree with you."

That's ok, you're forgiven 😊

OP posts:
Mrsjayy · 31/03/2022 10:18

Definitely Rehab for some "reflection" or worse Jada will do a red table Talk 🙄

DrManhattan · 31/03/2022 10:20

Chris Rock is a comedian hosting an awards show, everyone in the audience must think they could be up for some sort of ridicule. Just deal. WS looked like he was on something to me. All very strange.

Original poster
Lilifer · 31/03/2022 10:20

Their relationship seems really odd to me, I guess it works for them, but I don't get it.

OP posts:
ConfusedByDesign · 31/03/2022 10:20

The joke was poor but no one had a right to snack him for it. I can’t believe how many people think it’s an acceptable response.

Original poster
Lilifer · 31/03/2022 10:21

@DrManhattan

Chris Rock is a comedian hosting an awards show, everyone in the audience must think they could be up for some sort of ridicule. Just deal. WS looked like he was on something to me. All very strange.
Yes I think that's got to be part of it. He's a smart guy very strategic, this doesn't make sense the way he behaved here.
OP posts:
Inkanta · 31/03/2022 10:22

You can't help but wish that Will Smith had done it better - in so far as Chris Rock who started it, dished out the insult, now looks like the good guy.

If you react aggressively to an insult or provocation you become the bad guy. That's how it works.

TonyThreePies · 31/03/2022 10:27

he looked so calm

He did, didn't he? The slap came as such a surprise to me. He didn't seem to be angry or out of control or anything. I thought he was going to talk to him and I'm not sure that the slap was his intention. I don't know if he knew what he was going to do until he got there.

Blossomtoes · 31/03/2022 10:29

@Moonmelodies

You'd hope the Black Lives Matter campaign would have made people think twice about hitting a black guy, on liveTV or not.
So if Rock had been white it would have been OK? Seriously?
Horcruxe · 31/03/2022 10:29

@Inkanta

You can't help but wish that Will Smith had done it better - in so far as Chris Rock who started it, dished out the insult, now looks like the good guy.

If you react aggressively to an insult or provocation you become the bad guy. That's how it works.

Yup.

Wish he'd done it better.

What CR said was absolutely disgusting.

I feel for Will and his wife but obviously the violence isnt acceptable.

I would have thought with Will being good with words he would have been able to come up with a great verbal comeback.

Mrsjayy · 31/03/2022 10:29

It was a "joke" not a funny one but still that's what these ceremonies are about "roasting " the audience. Maybe Chris Rock didn't know she had alopecia or maybe he had and seen all of JPS sm post about her embracing her bald head, and Chris Rock joked about it. We can't get away from the fact Will Smith smacked him across the face infront of millions!

Beefcurtains79 · 31/03/2022 10:30

“ SilverHairedCat

I'll be honest, I'm shocked that Chris Rock still hasn't come out to apologise for the "joke". Comedy is not supposed to humiliate people, especially when they are sat only feet away from you.

I can't get worked up about a slap.”

Jesus Christ, ‘can’t get worked up about a slap”. Shock

mistermagpie · 31/03/2022 10:31

I think if Will Smith had walked on stage, took the microphone and said 'look - make fun of me for being a bad actor or because you don't like me or whatever, that's fine. But making fun of my wife, on international TV, about a medical condition over which she has no control and which she is trying to come to terms with in a dignified way is childish and unacceptable' then he would be the hero.

As it is, he made a fool of himself and Jada, who was already being laughed at, and made the issue about him rather than about Chris's unpleasant joke.

It's always better to take the high road and that doesn't mean sitting there pretending to laugh while someone is mean to your partner, he had an opportunity to address the joke in a really mature way and chose to do something else.

What I find odd is that while Jadas reaction to the joke was negative, he appeared to be laughing at first.

Blossomtoes · 31/03/2022 10:32

Jesus Christ, ‘can’t get worked up about a slap”.

Makes you wonder what sort of lives some people lead.

HalloHello · 31/03/2022 10:33

If it had been Amy Schumer who made the joke and Will had slapped her, he would already be in jail.

If he had been a normal person, in an office environment and slapped a colleague, he would have been disciplined.

I just cannot see how anyone can think this isn't that bad'.

okayigetit · 31/03/2022 10:35

@Laptopsandmouses

So could Chris rock. Who did something for me much worse. He tried to take a woman’s alopecia and turn her into a global laughing stock

What’s your point, neither behaved well.

Much worse? Jesus wept.
LadyCordeliaFitzgerald · 31/03/2022 10:37

I thought his reaction was a fuelled by a combination of whatever substance he was taking, and not being able to deal with being wrong footed because he laughed.

I really don’t like the roast trend. It’s a pathetic form of humour that’s basically a form of bullying. It’s weird that we talk so much about mental health but then openly encourage that sort of nastiness.

Of course you have to pretend to be a good sport and laugh about it. And that’s the crux of the problem with the Oscars and Hollywood culture - it’s all about putting up an image regardless of what’s going on underneath.

And none of the stuff underneath is ok - not the drug taking to get through the night, not the creepy predators in the industry, not the horrible jokes, not the emphasis on appearance, body mutilation, etc etc etc

Will got caught in a moment where he panicked and overcompensated when he picked the wrong reaction. The Academy didn’t know how to react either because they couldn’t check the right ending with a test audience first.

The problem is that there is no authenticity. And without that you can’t have integrity.

Original poster
Lilifer · 31/03/2022 10:38

@mistermagpie

I think if Will Smith had walked on stage, took the microphone and said 'look - make fun of me for being a bad actor or because you don't like me or whatever, that's fine. But making fun of my wife, on international TV, about a medical condition over which she has no control and which she is trying to come to terms with in a dignified way is childish and unacceptable' then he would be the hero.

As it is, he made a fool of himself and Jada, who was already being laughed at, and made the issue about him rather than about Chris's unpleasant joke.

It's always better to take the high road and that doesn't mean sitting there pretending to laugh while someone is mean to your partner, he had an opportunity to address the joke in a really mature way and chose to do something else.

What I find odd is that while Jadas reaction to the joke was negative, he appeared to be laughing at first.

100% agree 🙌🏻
OP posts:
Mrsjayy · 31/03/2022 10:40

really don’t like the roast trend. It’s a pathetic form of humour that’s basically a form of bullying. It’s weird that we talk so much about mental health but then openly encourage that sort of nastiness.

I don't like it either its just nasty

okayigetit · 31/03/2022 10:41

@Inkanta

You can't help but wish that Will Smith had done it better - in so far as Chris Rock who started it, dished out the insult, now looks like the good guy.

If you react aggressively to an insult or provocation you become the bad guy. That's how it works.

Well yeah if you lose control of yourself and become physically violent, you do tend to look like the bad guy in the majority of cases (not all but most and definitely in this one) Chris rock said 'Jada I love you, GI Jane 2 can't wait to see it' .. read that again.. and again and again.. it is one of the most tame jokes I think I have ever heard
okayigetit · 31/03/2022 10:43

@SilverHairedCat

I'll be honest, I'm shocked that Chris Rock still hasn't come out to apologise for the "joke". Comedy is not supposed to humiliate people, especially when they are sat only feet away from you.

I can't get worked up about a slap - if he'd said a similar comment intended to humiliate a woman in a pub on a Friday night, he could expect to be robustly dealt with for it. Not necessarily violence, but then I've also never seen a slap where a punch would do..... so tbh Smith held back a bit by choosing that highly theatrical style.

'I can't get worked up about a slap' are you aware that people have actually died after being slapped before?
Palmfrond · 31/03/2022 10:46

Will Smith seems to have been driven out of his mind by decades of adulation, riches beyond most people’s wildest dreams, and latterly his toxic relationship with his wife and real or perceived failures as a husband and father. If you listen to his acceptance speech you’ll hear a man who is on the brink of losing the plot, if he hasn’t already.
On top of all that, his cheeky/quizzical nice guy persona suggests to me that at a base level he’s very possibly a complete twat.
As for Chris Tock, he’s well known for pushing the envelope of good taste, and those awards are well known for comedians “roasting “ celebrities, and the joke he made about GI Jane was lame but pretty tame. I think people who are “disgusted “ by it are either very sheltered or are trying to tease some kind of strangely woke grievance narrative beyond its natural limit.