It seemed like a typical tiresome Oscar night devoid of any entertainment and replete with virtue signaling and political spiels.
Just when you were about
to yawn from boredom, Comedian Chris Rock ascended the stage to present
the best documentary.
Rock began with a jab at Javier
Bardem and Penelope Cruz for being nominated on the same night. His next target
was Denzel Washington as Macbeth, Rock said “King Lear ain’t got nothing on me.”
It was perfectly obvious that Rock was riffing with his
audience and his targets were in titters.
Next, Jada Pinkett-Smith caught Rock's eye “Jada, I love you, G.I
Jane 2, can’t wait to see it,” referring to the actress’s bald head.
Perhaps Rock was unaware that Pinkett-Smith suffers from alopecia, an autoimmune disorder that causes hair
loss. Perhaps Rock thought that Jada is attractive, wealthy, and successful,
her ailment is not life-threatening and hence she could take a silly joke. He was comparing her to the stunning Demi Moore.
Jada pulled a face, clearly, the joke didn't go too well with her.
After chuckling initially, something changed with Jada’s husband, Will Smith, perhaps it was his wife's discomfort or something else.
Smith went on to walk up to Rock on stage and slap him right in the face.
Rock like a true performer continued laughing and exclaimed,
“Will Smith just smacked the s–t out of me.”
Will Smith who was back in his seat shrieked at Rock, “keep my
wife’s name out your f–king mouth.”
While Rock attempted to pacify an unhinged Smith saying “it
was a G.I. Jane joke,” Smith got angrier, and repeated his previous
threat loudly.
The audio of the incident was muted on American TV but it is
available online.
https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/1508270716063469576
So how would a gentleman have reacted?
He would have held his wife's hand to support her, shook his
head in disapproval, and addressed the media later about his wife's ailment and how it affects women all over the world.
As luck would have it, Smith won the best actor for the night,
a few minutes later.
A gentleman would have begun his acceptance speech by
unconditionally apologizing to Chris Rock for his actions.
But Smith adopted the Alec Baldwin strategy, painting himself
the bigger victim.
He broke into tears which is most easy for an actor of his
experience.
“Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family,”
said Smith.
Smith was setting up the narrative, that his attack on Rock
was him being a family man defending the honor of his beloved wife.
Smith then went on to sermonize.
“In this time in my life, at this moment, I am overwhelmed by
what God is calling on me to do and be in this world.”
Narcissists frequently use the cloak of being devout, to claim
God is calling on them. The implication is they are so special that God chose
them among all humans.
Smith went on:
“Making this film, I got to protect Aunganue Ellis, who is one
of the strongest, most delicate people I’ve ever met. I got to protect Saniyya
[Sidney] and Demi [Singleton], the two actresses who play Venus and Serena. I’m
being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a
river to my people.”
Smith was merely an actor in the movie King Richard, where he
played the pushy, opportunistic, but ultimately well-meaning father of Serena
and Venus Williams.
It was an acting job, he was mouthing lines from a script and
following the instructions from his director. Yet Smith seems to be claiming
that ‘protecting’ his co-stars was his sole concern. Smith's
co-stars, who are women of color, are unlikely to be thrilled about being used as
pawns and painted as helpless victims as he made excuses for violence.
Smith continued to paint himself as the braveheart who dared to
take on ‘abuse’ and people ‘disrespecting’ him.
“I'm being called on in my life to love people and to protect
people and to be a river to my people. I know to do what we do, you got to be
able to take abuse. You got to be able to have people talk crazy about you. In
this business, you got to be able to have people disrespecting you. And you got
to smile and you got to pretend like that's okay.”
Smith finally appeared to deliver his mea culpa
“I want to apologize to the Academy, I want to apologize to my
fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying for winning an
award. It’s not about winning an award for me. It’s about being able to shine a
light on all of the people. Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father
just like they said. just like they said about Richard Williams. Love will make
you do crazy things.”
Thus Smith apologized to everybody but his actual victim Chris
Rock. The ‘Love will make you do crazy things is the kind of argument
that wife-beaters use to justify their bad behavior i.e. he struck her because
he means well.
It is worth mentioning that Smith has spoken about having an open marriage with his wife Jada. A husband who deeply and unconditionally loves their wife usually does not make infidelity a norm of their marriage.
The reaction online was that of shock.
Then there was a Professor from the University of Florida who
‘specializes in American elections’ who used the disgraceful assault to target,
yes you guess right, Donald Trump.
https://twitter.com/ElectProject/status/1508276357805051906?s=20&t=-BOzWt6x3P5pDzJ3K4CwmA
The academic was advocating violence against President Trump
for a frivolous retweet during the 2016 Primaries about Cruz’s wife. Back then
Cruz had reacted appropriately with strong words only.
This incident is likely to be spun in the coming days. Judging
by the reaction thus far makes it appear that the support is leaning heavily
towards Smith. He is after all the bigger star.
The pundits may claim Smith is fearlessly standing up to
rampant sexism
We must also sympathize with the media race hustlers who must
be disappointed since both Smith and Rock are liberal men of color.
They can still claim, Smith was standing up to racism, since
Jada is a woman of color.
Will bring up Donald Trump and Ted Cruz again? But of course, they will.
Next, you can expect Smith to go on an interview spree,
shedding copious crocodile tears claiming to have struggled owing to his wife's
ailment or due to mental issues, or due to
racism. He may claim Rock has attacked his
wife for a long time and as a man, he couldn’t take it anymore. He may even
become an advocate for women’s rights.
He will most likely apologize with excuses about 'love causing him to do it'.
But the fact that it didn't happen immediately makes his motives questionable. Is he really sorry or has his PR agency told him to do it because the backlash will hurt his stardom?
After his 'tearful' speech, Smith was seen partying and dancing after the Oscars, clearly, he isn't too upset by the ordeal.
It would be interesting to see how Chris Rock, who is one of the finest comic minds, reacts to this.
The entitled Smith forgot the basic rule that you react to words with words. The moment you resort to violence, all is lost.
Smith’s actions send a bad message to his fans, especially his young male fans. Besides legitimizing violence, Smith also was telling his fans that instead of taking responsibility for their actions, they can make excuses and claim victimhood as an escape route.
The academy issued a perfunctory condemnation of violence without actually naming him
Ideally, the following should have happened, if the Academy really wants to stand against violence
Smith should have been escorted away by the security team at the Oscars. A man prone to such outbursts is a security risk to others.
They should launch a formal complaint with law enforcement against Smith, he assaulted Rock, whom they had invited to the ceremony. Smith deserves some form of punishment for his actions in a Court of law.
Finally and most importantly, they should withdraw Smith’s award.
The Academy should apologize unconditionally to Chris Rock
But nothing of the kind is likely to occur. In fact, few are likely to condemn Smith's actions.
Hollywood stars who cannot stop talking about their activism, should have refused to applaud his award, instead, they gave him a standing ovation and generous applause.
The likes of Denzel Washington went up to 'console' Smith after the incident, yes, you read it right, console the assaulter.
Many also noted that Smith was given unlimited time to speak and make excuses for his bad behavior, unlike winners who are forced off the stage as the music plays them off.
If a regular staffer had done what Smith did, he would have been immediately transported to prison. Despite what they claim, the rules and laws for the 'elites' are drastically different.
Smith also certainly deserves the best actor trophy for convincingly playing the part of Mr. Amiable Nice Guy for 3 decades.
This article also appears on American Thinker
Comments
Post a Comment