Photo: King Richard Film - Facebook
Will Smith with Oscar statue
I wasn’t intending to watch the Oscars last Sunday. I don’t even recall what show was on as I started channel surfing during a commercial break and, lo and behold, stumbled onto the Oscars. I hadn’t seen most of this year’ contenders but figured I’d wile away some time before the news came on. Besides, knowing many of my friends were glued to their TVs in giddy anticipation of who would be the next “Best” cinematic something or other, I thought it prudent to watch a little of the spectacle’s last moments in order to keep up with the inevitable post Oscar chatter. As it turned out, I had turned in just in the nick of time.
As the list of Best Documentary nominees droned on, I started to pay closer attention (I’d been catching YouTube videos at the same time) since of any type of film, I usually find documentaries the most engaging. Then came Chris Rock’s banter and the infamous joke, and the close-up of Will Smith laughing, followed by Smith’s resolute stride to the stage, the bitch slap and the silence. For a few seconds I thought it was part of the shtick. But Chris Rock’s expression, that strange silence (I checked my remote to be sure it wasn’t me), and finally Smith, now seated, mouthing his expletive laden admonishment (you didn’t need to be a CODA to read his lips). Suddenly, the sound returned and the show went on regardless with Smith tearfully receiving his Oscar just minutes later and offering his odd and awkward apology to an even odder and more awkward standing ovation.
“Candid” Takes, Media Abuzz
Inevitably, the following day, social media was abuzz with news feeds and everyone else with their candid takes on what the hell happened and what they actually saw. Here’s where the Rashomon moment unfolds with the initial right or wrong discussion soon evolving into how a poor joke predicated the slap. Some vehemently decried the display of toxic masculinity. Others cheered the chivalry of a man standing up for his woman, embracing the act of violence as not only warranted but required. Besides, Will Smith is an icon and a hero to many. For his fans, however bad his behavior, he is beyond reproach. After all, sitting there at the Oscars can be stressful.
When Milwaukee Alderperson JoCasta Zamarippa took up the cause of the “Team Rock,” she was immediately chastised for entering the fray. Commenters told her she had no business opining on the situation because she’s not Black. A white transgender woman I know took up the theme of the Black-White dynamic, repeating the warning to white people not to offer their input. Meanwhile, a Black transgender woman acquaintance applauded Smith’s assault, taking the tack as some others had, that a real man should defend his queen. Their perspectives I found particularly telling. If there is any member of the LGBTQ community that should identify with systemic social abuse, it certainly would be a transwoman. In a broader context, anyone who has been bullied probably hoped for someone to intervene and punch the offender in the face, so there probably was a bit of satisfaction felt by people who have experienced that feeling of helplessness in the face of .
Other opinions went into the personal dynamics between the parties involved. What few people saw was the actual violence. Of course, those that did offered the “violence is never the answer” trope and were often criticized for it. However, for most, the matter-of-factness of the act seems to have steered the discussion to its predicating factors. Will Smith’s son Jaden even tweeted after the slap, “That’s how we do it.”
Now, in the aftermath, the dust settling and the Academy announcing an investigation of the assault, both Will Smith and Chris Rock have apologized to each other. Smith, however, ironically issued a tepid statement condemning violence. Sadly, though, as is the nature of such things, the message delivered at that international event with millions of viewers was that violence is a legitimate means of expressing grievance. It validated and encouraged every act of violence from honor killings to school yard beatings regardless of the degree of the offence. Taking it back and apologies after the fact do not matter. Nobody pays attention to those hollow acts of contrition.
