So... the Oscars (aka Academy Awards) happened Sunday... and 99% of the conversation is about Will Smith getting up, and slapping comedian/host Chris Rock, after a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith. In this NSFW (lots of language) conversation, here's MMA fighter/comedian/podcast legend Joe Rogan, and MMA fighter/commentator Josh Barnett, discussing the incident.
First of all, here's the clip of the slap, followed by the joke Chris said first.
I didn't see this happen live, I heard a mention of it yesterday, the morning after the Oscars. This crazy incident has brought up all kinds of opinions from people across the spectrum. But the conversation between trained fighters, Rogan and Barnett, above, is the most level headed take on it I've seen, and it's about 15 minutes long. First, Joe Rogan is the first person I've seen mention Will Smith's double reaction, laughing at first, then Jada's upset look, and then Will walks up and slaps Chris. Second, Chris Rock can take a hit, I'll give him that, he didn't even put his hands up to block. No stunt double needed there.
I agree with Rogan that I think Will was acting completely on impulse. I don't think he had any thought of consequences at the time. Yes, Will did apologize to the Academy during his acceptance speech later on, and I've heard he apologized to Chris yesterday on Twitter. But he handled the situation horribly at the time.
As I've thought about it over the last day and a half, like so many other people, I see Will's act as that of a person of privilege, who believes there are, or will be, no consequences for his actions. That was the act of a spoiled rich kid turned adult, whose problems have been solved by someone else their whole life. That's the kind of person we'd expect to hit someone on a live TV broadcast. Now that's not how Will grew up, to the best of my knowledge. But that's how how acted in the moment, like someone who had no concern for consequences at all. Normal people know they'd get tackled by security if they ever tried something like that in a similar situation.
When you bring the race into it, Will did the same kind of thing that black people have had to deal with from wealthy, privileged White people, for 300+ years in this country. Except the guy throwing the bitch slap is a rich and famous black man. There are so many different issues wrapped up in this little incident, that I'm kind of glad it happened. Yes, Jada has a medical condition that led to her shaving her head, and Chris likely knew that. But it was at a TV show, watched by millions, where Chris Rock's job was to roast a few celebs for laughs as part of the show. If you're in the first few rows at the Oscars, you know you may have a joke directed at you. You can argue whether the joke was in bad taste. But I don't think it was malicious, Chris was doing his job as a comic host.
This blow-up by Will Smith now has people talking about alopecia, and what jokes are acceptable to women with one issue or another. It has people talking about jokes and free speech. It has people talking about wealth, privilege and lack of consequences for some people's actions. It has people talking about assault. It has people talking about how fucking crazy the world itself has become. It has people talking about copycat idiots attacking live performers in the future. It has people talking about a whole bunch of social and human issues.
It also has a lot of people thinking about social issues, and how we interact with each other in all kinds of everyday situations. In the long run, the one douchebag moment of stupidity may yield several silver linings. Chris Rock is OK, and seems to have literally, and figuratively, rolled with the punch. Maybe this will ultimately prevent some stupid actions by a lot of other people in the future. Let's hope so.
If this incident is on your mind, watch the video above, there's a lot in it to think about.
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