Now that the dust has settled It would not be a hard guess at this current point in time if I asked you what was the number one topic streaming on social media at the moment, other than men waging war against their fellow man. It’s been on everyone’s lips Will Smith slapping Chris Rock around the face on stage at the Oscars. For those few of you that might not have a clue of what I’m talking about. Firstly good on you for not being plugged into the matrix and secondly if you type in WS (will smith) the very next google prediction will be slaps Chris rock. Now I want to jump forward a few paces. There’s many debates at the moment, that if the slap was real, was the joke really inappropriate, was will smith justified, was CR (Chris rock) out of line with the G.I. jane joke, etc. My 2 pennies worth today points at 2 aspects on the matter. The first aspect is the question of what is really going on with Will Smith? The second aspect is how amazing is CRock!
Firstly I know what you all must be thinking.
“From Obaleski’s line of question we know he supports CR and thinks WS was wrong.” Let it be known that I am a huge fan of both personalities and have been for many years.
Generally I don’t like to use the terms wrong and right because these are words based on perception. Everyone has their own individual and personal account of wrong and right which have been based on upbringing, life experience, moral background etc. I consciously like to use the terms Creative or Destructive and in regards to this scenario I would say that what WS did was more destructive.
Now we already know that most people are torn between what WS did but firstly let’s take a look at the situation and the environment that they are in. They are at the Oscars. For YEARSSSSS the Oscars have employed comedians to present, host or co host at the evening ceremony. There’s a reason why certain spots are given to comedians. It’s a comedian’s job, role and skill to look into the audience, pinpoint certain individuals and make fun of them. I would even go a step further to say they have the divine talent of being able to identify someone’s personal issues, however serious, painful or embarrassing, make light of the situation and get us to laugh at ourselves. This is employed Especially at the Oscars, which is the greatest acting award ceremony within the acting profession. Did WS not know that he was at the Oscars? Did he forget? Was the joke that disrespectful?
Ok CR made a joke about Jada’s hair. We Know the joke, we know her condition. UK statistics say that 2 in every 1000 people suffer from the condition and approximately 2.5million in the US. We’ve all heard of it, seen it, know about it. It affects its victims in many different ways, Men and women. I have previously briefly touched upon the media’s constant historical crush campaign critiquing the female form in My 2 Pennies Worth : Keep Your Hands To Yourself article and especially how black women get hit the hardest in modern media. It could be that Jada’s hair loss has also had a considerable effect on her psyche to the point where WS felt he needed to defend her honour, get up out of his seat and slap another man across his face. Slap, not punch, slap. Really? Does one defend his wife’s honour by slapping another man across the face? CR previously poked fun at the richest man in the world Jeff Besos (Not the Richest Man who ever lived Munsa Musa) after his recent divorce with his wife where she landed the biggest divorce pay-out in history. Did Jeff get up out of his seat walk up to the man and slap him across his face, No, not at all. Jeff gritted his teeth, smiled, nodded and took his licks like everyone else who the comedian fired shots at and enjoyed the rest of the evening.
It seems a lot to slap a man in the face for a hair joke. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I shouldn’t put a non threatening autoimmune system disorder lower on the severity ladder than someone with terminal cancer with only months left to live right? Right? For the person who is losing their hair it could also mean the end of the world right? It’s all about perception. Was WS just defending his wife’s honour or maybe the G.I. Jane joke was the straw that broke the camel’s back? WS and Jada have been openly going through a lot within their marriage in the public eye and it could be that it is finally taking its toll on the actor. I feel that this behaviour is out of character for WS, who often advocates a nonviolent approach to conflict resolution. He often openly refers to his childhood watching his father physically abuse his mother and advocates that he would never do the same. Is this the behaviour of the person who he portrays to be in the public? Obviously none of us really know who WS is. The Man compared to the Actor are two different characters. Maybe the real man is only seen behind closed doors and only the actor is seen in the media. I feel that the man who we generally see could have accepted his award that night and then quietly and privately had a word with the comedian about what he didn’t like about the joke. I don’t believe he would have lost face as a respectable man by not acting out in the way that he did but maybe it’s not the public who he’s trying to save face for. A toxic relationship can take many forms and one form of toxicity is making people behave in a way that is alien to their true character. Poisoning a partner to act out in a way other than himself. Of Course we also don’t really know Jada either. We don’t know what type of woman she is or even what type of partner she is and her impact on WS or even if it’s their relationship that is the root of the problem.
I’m still not entirely sure that this wasn’t some kind of stunt. The way that it happened just seemed very off to me. I remember not too long ago Zidane in his last ever football match was sent off with a red card for delivering that famous headbutt. Maybe when a famous actor is finished or has had enough he doesn’t want to slip quietly into the night. He wants to go out with a bang. Real or Not the unfortunate thing is WS actually won an Oscar for Best Actor. Do we even know the name of the film he starred in to receive the title. It wasn’t called The Slap. Another sad thing is WS is the 5th Black Male Actor to win this award EVER. So this is actually also a historical moment in an industry which had also been racially institutionalised and dominated predominantly by white male actors. This was another historical step forward towards gradual change but again the slap has overshadowed that importance also.
This Brings me to the second part of my 2 pennies worth. My personal view of Chris Rock has skyrocketed. I have to take my hat off to the man. To be on stage and have another superstar walk up, slap, not punch, slap you across the face while keeping your hands behind your back and carrying on with the show displays a level of poise, maturity and kindness that I think most men wouldn’t have been able to demonstrate. Do we completely realise what it means to be slapped across the face as a man? A punch in the face is a fight. A slap across the face is a disrespect, humiliation and Emasculation. That is what it is. In days of old when one gentleman disrespected another gentleman with a slap across his face, swords were drawn or it was pistols at dawn. Someone is going to die. The way in which CR handled the situation probably has allowed WS to retain his Oscar. I think we need to salute CR for that because having previously spoken about the institutional racism that still is present within the acting industry. One Black actor has just uplifted another black for the bigger picture. No charges have been filed, no words have been shot back as yet and no swords or pistols have been drawn. No one is going to Die. This is what I call a creative outcome. More things of a positive nature will emerge when people look at CR’s conflict resolution. Comedians are also sometimes used to this kind of thing. It’s not uncommon for comedians to have to deal with what is known as hecklers. A person in the audience with his own personal vendetta to oust the performer. They can start their attack with verbal abuse and sometimes try to get physical, unsuccessfully due to security, after which they get escorted out of the show. Where was the security when WS walked onto the stage? Or after the assault? I have read that CR asked for WS not to be removed after the incident. So are we saying culturally that this type of behaviour is acceptable? Are we saying that if the reason is just we can justify a man’s wrongdoing and let him off the hook? Or are we saying that with regards to certain members of society, depending on where you stand in the social pecking order certain rules, regulations and consequences don’t apply to you? I think in these types of situations we have to be very careful about how we reflect on the issue because unfortunately the media, especially Hollywood, can dictate culture. People emulate what they see. Well the majority of people anyway and this is destructive. It’s destructive because it can lead us down the rabbit hole causing more problems than solutions.
Anyway I don’t want to rivet on too much, like always this is only my 2 pennies worth. You can either pick it up, put it into a jar, as it might be worth something one day or leave it there lying by the roadside with the rest of the rubbish.