Oscars Will Smith- Chris Rock……scripted or not?

[coxyhog]

Even a murdering arsehole is chipping in....

https://news.sky.com/story/oj-simpson-weighs-in-on-will-smiths-oscar-slap-as-ticket-sales-for-chris-rocks-stand-up-tour-skyrocket-12577979

[lazarus]

21 minutes ago, coxyhog said:

Even a murdering arsehole is chipping in....

https://news.sky.com/story/oj-simpson-weighs-in-on-will-smiths-oscar-slap-as-ticket-sales-for-chris-rocks-stand-up-tour-skyrocket-12577979

One more chirp.

A thoughtful opinion piece from a highly respect athlete - one of the NBA GOATs - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

. . .

Will Smith Did a Bad, Bad Thing
Slapping Chris Rock was also a blow to men, women, the entertainment industry, and the Black community.

https://kareem.substack.com/p/will-smith-did-a-bad-bad-thing?s=r

When Will Smith stormed onto the Oscar stage to strike Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife’s short hair, he did a lot more damage than just to Rock’s face. With a single petulant blow, he advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the entertainment industry, and perpetuated stereotypes about the Black community.

That’s a lot to unpack. Let’s start with the facts: Rock made a reference to Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, as looking like Demi Moore in GI Jane, in which Moore had shaved her head. Jada Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia, which causes hair loss. Ok, I can see where the Smiths might not have found that joke funny. But Hollywood awards shows are traditionally a venue where much worse things have been said about celebrities as a means of downplaying the fact that it’s basically a gathering of multimillionaires giving each other awards to boost business so they can make even more money.

The Smiths could have reacted by politely laughing along with the joke or by glowering angrily at Rock. Instead, Smith felt the need to get up in front of his industry peers and millions of people around the world, hit another man, then return to his seat to bellow: “Keep my wife's name out of your fucking mouth.” Twice.

Some have romanticized Smith’s actions as that of a loving husband defending his wife. Comedian Tiffany Haddish, who starred in the movie Girls Trip with Pinkett Smith, praised Smith’s actions: “[F]or me, it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen because it made me believe that there are still men out there that love and care about their women, their wives.”

Actually, it was the opposite. Smith’s slap was also a slap to women. If Rock had physically attacked Pinkett Smith, Smith’s intervention would have been welcome. Or if he’d remained in his seat and yelled his post-slap threat, that would have been unnecessary, but understandable. But by hitting Rock, he announced that his wife was incapable of defending herself—against words. From everything I’d seen of Pinkett Smith over the years, she’s a very capable, tough, smart woman who can single-handedly take on a lame joke at the Academy Awards show.

This patronizing, paternal attitude infantilizes women and reduces them to helpless damsels needing a Big Strong Man to defend their honor least they swoon from the vapors. If he was really doing it for his wife, and not his own need to prove himself, he might have thought about the negative attention this brought on them, much harsher than the benign joke. That would have been truly defending and respecting her. This “women need men to defend them” is the same justification currently being proclaimed by conservatives passing laws to restrict abortion and the LGBTQ+ community.

Worse than the slap was Smith’s tearful, self-serving acceptance speech in which he rambled on about all the women in the movie King Richard that he’s protected. Those who protect don’t brag about it in front of 15 million people. They just do it and shut up. You don’t do it as a movie promotion claiming how you’re like the character you just won an award portraying. By using these women to virtue signal, he was in fact exploiting them to benefit himself. But, of course, the speech was about justifying his violence. Apparently, so many people need Smith’s protection that occasionally it gets too much and someone needs to be smacked.

What is the legacy of Smith’s violence? He’s brought back the Toxic Bro ideal of embracing Kobra Kai teachings of “might makes right” and “talk is for losers.” Let’s not forget that this macho John Wayne philosophy was expressed in two movies in which Wayne spanked grown women to teach them a lesson. Young boys—especially Black boys—watching their movie idol not just hit another man over a joke, but then justify it as him being a superhero-like protector, are now much more prone to follow in his childish footsteps. Perhaps the saddest confirmation of this is the tweet from Smith’s child Jaden: “And That’s How We Do It.”

The Black community also takes a direct hit from Smith. One of the main talking points from those supporting the systemic racism in America is characterizing Blacks as more prone to violence and less able to control their emotions. Smith just gave comfort to the enemy by providing them with the perfect optics they were dreaming of. Fox News host Jeanine Pirro wasted no time going full-metal jacket racist by declaring the Oscars are “not the hood.” What would she have said if Brad Pitt slapped Ricky Gervais? This isn’t Rodeo Drive? Many will be reinvigorated to continue their campaign to marginalize African Americans and others through voter suppression campaign.

As for the damage to show business, Smith’s violence is an implied threat to all comedians who now have to worry that an edgy or insulting joke might be met with violence. Good thing Don Rickles, Bill Burr, or Ricky Gervais weren’t there. As comedian Kathy Griffin tweeted: “Now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theaters.”

The one bright note is that Chris Rock, clearly stunned, managed to handle the moment with grace and maturity. If only Smith’s acceptance speech had shown similar grace and maturity—and included, instead of self-aggrandizing excuses, a heartfelt apology to Rock.

I met Will Smith when I appeared on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air 28 years ago. And I’ve been to his house. I like him. He’s charming, sincere, and funny. I’m also a big fan of his movies. He’s an accomplished and dedicated actor who deserves the professional accolades he’s received. But it will be difficult to watch the next movie without remembering this sad performance.

I don’t want to see him punished or ostracized because of this one, albeit a big one, mistake. I just want this to be a cautionary tale for others not to romanticize or glorify bad behavior. And I want Smith to be the man who really protects others—by admitting the harm he’s done to others.

. . . . . . . .

Update: Since this article was first published, Will Smith has issued an apology to Chris Rock, the Academy, and the audience. In part, he posted:

“Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. Jokes at my expense are part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally,” Smith wrote. “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”

 

[Nightcrawler]

Since the incident, sales for tickets to Chris Rock's stand up tour have gone through the roof. 

[Horizondave]

1 hour ago, lazarus said:

One more chirp.

A thoughtful opinion piece from a highly respect athlete - one of the NBA GOATs - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

. . .

Will Smith Did a Bad, Bad Thing
Slapping Chris Rock was also a blow to men, women, the entertainment industry, and the Black community.

https://kareem.substack.com/p/will-smith-did-a-bad-bad-thing?s=r

When Will Smith stormed onto the Oscar stage to strike Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife’s short hair, he did a lot more damage than just to Rock’s face. With a single petulant blow, he advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the entertainment industry, and perpetuated stereotypes about the Black community.

That’s a lot to unpack. Let’s start with the facts: Rock made a reference to Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, as looking like Demi Moore in GI Jane, in which Moore had shaved her head. Jada Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia, which causes hair loss. Ok, I can see where the Smiths might not have found that joke funny. But Hollywood awards shows are traditionally a venue where much worse things have been said about celebrities as a means of downplaying the fact that it’s basically a gathering of multimillionaires giving each other awards to boost business so they can make even more money.

The Smiths could have reacted by politely laughing along with the joke or by glowering angrily at Rock. Instead, Smith felt the need to get up in front of his industry peers and millions of people around the world, hit another man, then return to his seat to bellow: “Keep my wife's name out of your fucking mouth.” Twice.

Some have romanticized Smith’s actions as that of a loving husband defending his wife. Comedian Tiffany Haddish, who starred in the movie Girls Trip with Pinkett Smith, praised Smith’s actions: “[F]or me, it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen because it made me believe that there are still men out there that love and care about their women, their wives.”

Actually, it was the opposite. Smith’s slap was also a slap to women. If Rock had physically attacked Pinkett Smith, Smith’s intervention would have been welcome. Or if he’d remained in his seat and yelled his post-slap threat, that would have been unnecessary, but understandable. But by hitting Rock, he announced that his wife was incapable of defending herself—against words. From everything I’d seen of Pinkett Smith over the years, she’s a very capable, tough, smart woman who can single-handedly take on a lame joke at the Academy Awards show.

This patronizing, paternal attitude infantilizes women and reduces them to helpless damsels needing a Big Strong Man to defend their honor least they swoon from the vapors. If he was really doing it for his wife, and not his own need to prove himself, he might have thought about the negative attention this brought on them, much harsher than the benign joke. That would have been truly defending and respecting her. This “women need men to defend them” is the same justification currently being proclaimed by conservatives passing laws to restrict abortion and the LGBTQ+ community.

Worse than the slap was Smith’s tearful, self-serving acceptance speech in which he rambled on about all the women in the movie King Richard that he’s protected. Those who protect don’t brag about it in front of 15 million people. They just do it and shut up. You don’t do it as a movie promotion claiming how you’re like the character you just won an award portraying. By using these women to virtue signal, he was in fact exploiting them to benefit himself. But, of course, the speech was about justifying his violence. Apparently, so many people need Smith’s protection that occasionally it gets too much and someone needs to be smacked.

What is the legacy of Smith’s violence? He’s brought back the Toxic Bro ideal of embracing Kobra Kai teachings of “might makes right” and “talk is for losers.” Let’s not forget that this macho John Wayne philosophy was expressed in two movies in which Wayne spanked grown women to teach them a lesson. Young boys—especially Black boys—watching their movie idol not just hit another man over a joke, but then justify it as him being a superhero-like protector, are now much more prone to follow in his childish footsteps. Perhaps the saddest confirmation of this is the tweet from Smith’s child Jaden: “And That’s How We Do It.”

The Black community also takes a direct hit from Smith. One of the main talking points from those supporting the systemic racism in America is characterizing Blacks as more prone to violence and less able to control their emotions. Smith just gave comfort to the enemy by providing them with the perfect optics they were dreaming of. Fox News host Jeanine Pirro wasted no time going full-metal jacket racist by declaring the Oscars are “not the hood.” What would she have said if Brad Pitt slapped Ricky Gervais? This isn’t Rodeo Drive? Many will be reinvigorated to continue their campaign to marginalize African Americans and others through voter suppression campaign.

As for the damage to show business, Smith’s violence is an implied threat to all comedians who now have to worry that an edgy or insulting joke might be met with violence. Good thing Don Rickles, Bill Burr, or Ricky Gervais weren’t there. As comedian Kathy Griffin tweeted: “Now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theaters.”

The one bright note is that Chris Rock, clearly stunned, managed to handle the moment with grace and maturity. If only Smith’s acceptance speech had shown similar grace and maturity—and included, instead of self-aggrandizing excuses, a heartfelt apology to Rock.

I met Will Smith when I appeared on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air 28 years ago. And I’ve been to his house. I like him. He’s charming, sincere, and funny. I’m also a big fan of his movies. He’s an accomplished and dedicated actor who deserves the professional accolades he’s received. But it will be difficult to watch the next movie without remembering this sad performance.

I don’t want to see him punished or ostracized because of this one, albeit a big one, mistake. I just want this to be a cautionary tale for others not to romanticize or glorify bad behavior. And I want Smith to be the man who really protects others—by admitting the harm he’s done to others.

. . . . . . . .

Update: Since this article was first published, Will Smith has issued an apology to Chris Rock, the Academy, and the audience. In part, he posted:

“Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. Jokes at my expense are part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally,” Smith wrote. “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”

 

Read that article, think he has definitely got the temperature of the room right with his views.

The more I think of it the more I see that what Will Smith did was a negative action.

[Butch]

Pretty much agree with many sentiments here.

Will Smith is an idol to many people, getting up and hitting a guy for a puerile and offensive comment sends the wrong message.

He puts himself across as a smiling, fun family man who's everyone's friend, but the facade soon dropped.

CR didn't threaten anyone, although his joke was in very poor taste and offensive to Jada, it didn't warrant a violent reaction.

My opinion is - He should have got up, confronted CR verbally and asked him to apologise for his comments, so CR was then in a position to make a choice which would then be on him. He could have refused, and WS would have been the better man, or he could have done so and then they both had a woke man hug, everyone happy and everyone comes out looking good.

Poor judgement on WS for his actions, and the waterworks afterwards slightly OTT.

Jada Pinkett came out of this with dignity and grace, she rose above the offensive comment and let it go. She's a tough cookie.

The level of "wokery" and the frankly, quote sickly sweet level of virtue signalling by all and sundry in Hollywood where anyone with an even slightly right of centrist view is vilified, cajoled and ostracized is hypocritical to the extreme. 

Here are people pontificating on social justice and how awful toxic white masculinity is, how terrible things are for trans people and those facing a class, sexual and colour struggle, meanwhile while clutching $120k (approx guess I got from a tabloid) "Gift bags", quaffing champagne and Oysters.

Yet they witness a crime of violence and give the bloke a standing ovation for it.

 

[Golfingboy]

3 hours ago, Nightcrawler said:

Since the incident, sales for tickets to Chris Rock's stand up your have gone through the roof. 

I’d say something about it being a scalper’s dream, but out of respect for GI Jane, we won’t be mentioning anything about scalps

[Golfingboy]

While Ukrainians are getting their homes destroyed……

 

[Stillearly]

He's already training for the next awards show ...

[gs joe]

[Evil Penevil]

10 hours ago, Nightcrawler said:

Since the incident, sales for tickets to Chris Rock's stand up tour have gone through the roof. 

Yup.  Chris Rock is about to embark on a lengthy stand-up comedy tour, his first in over five years.  The "slap heard round the world" has certainly given an enormous boost to ticket sales.

“We sold more tickets to see Chris Rock overnight than we did in the past month combined,” secondary ticketing platform TickPick tweeted on Monday.

TickPick said prices were being sold for as low as $46 per seat last week. Now, the cheapest ticket on the platform is $341. LINK

One theory is that Rock made the joke about Smith's wife in hopes of sparking a "celebrity feud" to increase public interest in his tour.  Such feuds and the according controversy always boost ticket sales. Things worked out much better than Rock could have expected when Smith slapped him.  That pat on the cheek is worth millions to Rock.

So "the slap" may have been manipulated by Rock, but I doubt it was staged in collusion with Smith.  The Oscar winner gained nothing material from it and has seen his image hurt significantly on what should have been the best night of his life.

But some questions remain unanswered- and probably never will be answered.  Why didn't security stop Smith from rushing the stage?  Was it because they assumed the stunt had been scripted or simply because they didn't dare to intervene against Will Smith due to his stature as an actor?

Why did Will Smith initially laugh at the GI Jane joke, then go over the edge a few seconds later?  Was Chris Rock aware that Jada Pinkett Smith suffered from alopecia?  Certainly some women have on occasion shaved their heads as a fashion statement.  In that case, the joke in reference to Demi Moore's shaven head in a 1997 box-office-flop movie becomes harmless.

And even if he had known about Pinkett Smith's alopecia, is the joke all that bad?  Alopecia is a hereditary condition, not a disease, and people have joked about bald men for centuries.

Evil

Edited March 30, 2022 by Evil Penevil

[Glasseye]

I gave this cluster some time to sink in. Thought it out....

 

Only thing I really have to say about it - Will Smith is a dick. f**k him.

[Glasseye]

50 minutes ago, Glasseye said:

I gave this cluster some time to sink in. Thought it out....

 

Only thing I really have to say about it - Will Smith is a dick. f**k him.

 

But, at the same time.... I agree with Chole.....

 

 

[fygjam]

Old hat. All been done before.

 

[gs joe]

13 hours ago, fygjam said:

Old hat. All been done before.

keeping up with the jones
 

[tom72]

if he was upset he would of punched him not slap him  which to me looks like a set up 

[Glasseye]

 

[Sherlock]

Apparently some new video of this has been released, where it is very clear to see that whilst Will is shouting and swearing at Chris, Jada is seen laughing at the whole scene before her!!

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by Sherlock

[Glasseye]

Maybe she was embarrassed or covering for the bullshit antics of her husband.

 

Example.... When someone fucks up in traffic (almost causing an accident) if you look at their immediate reaction it is almost always a smile or laughter. That is a psycho physical motor reaction which covers their fear or embarrassment of the action. It is almost automatic physio response and does not truly indicate their real asessment that comes once they are past the moment.

 

 

[Stillearly]

US actor Will Smith has resigned from the Oscars Academy after slapping comedian Chris Rock on stage during last Sunday's ceremony.

"My actions at the 94th Academy Awards presentation were shocking, painful, and inexcusable," his statement said.

The Academy said it accepted the resignation and would "continue to move forward" with disciplinary proceedings.

[forcebwithu]

38 minutes ago, Stillearly said:

US actor Will Smith has resigned from the Oscars Academy after slapping comedian Chris Rock on stage during last Sunday's ceremony.

"My actions at the 94th Academy Awards presentation were shocking, painful, and inexcusable," his statement said.

The Academy said it accepted the resignation and would "continue to move forward" with disciplinary proceedings.

The guy f***d up, but I give him high marks for owning his mistake. His full statement seems written from the heart.

"I have directly responded to the Academy's disciplinary hearing notice, and I will fully accept any and all consequences for my conduct. My actions at the 94th Academy Awards presentation were shocking, painful, and inexcusable. The list of those I have hurt is long and includes Chris, his family, many of my dear friends and loved ones, all those in attendance, and global audiences at home. I betrayed the trust of the Academy. I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work. I am heartbroken. I want to put the focus back on those who deserve attention for their achievements and allow the Academy to get back to the incredible work it does to support creativity and artistry in film. So, I am resigning from membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and will accept any further consequences the Board deems appropriate. Change takes time and I am committed to doing the work to ensure that I never again allow violence to overtake reason."

[roomark]

On 4/1/2022 at 12:06 AM, tom72 said:

if he was upset he would of punched him not slap him  which to me looks like a set up 

Where I come from a bitch slap is a bigger insult than a punch.

Edited April 2, 2022 by roomark

[Mr. Smooth]

On 3/30/2022 at 3:03 PM, Glasseye said:

 

But, at the same time.... I agree with Chole.....

 

 

Great flick, have seen it a couple times. Driven on some of those roads and been to some of the places featured in the movie. Frances McDormand is among the best actresses in film. Every bit the equal of Meryl Streep.

[Horizondave]

So it wasn't a fake event then despite some (the usual deniers) on here trying to show expert analysis of the video.

The more Will Smith thinks about what he did the more he must want to dig a hole and disappear.

I think work for him will be difficult in the near future.

[boydeste]

12 hours ago, Horizondave said:

I think work for him will be difficult in the near future.

With a net worth of over 350 million, I doubt that will hurt him too much.

[gs joe]

1 hour ago, boydeste said:

With a net worth of over 350 million, I doubt that will hurt him too much.

Would imagine that would factor in his forgiveness