I’ve been filtering my feeds to block it, but I guess I need to find a browser plugin that’ll work on all sites. It’s gotten down to the “celebrity weighs in on slap,” and “now people are mad at celebrity who weighed in and pointing out how shitty they are, too.”
So. Tired. Please stop worshiping celebrities, society. Please, I’m begging you.
All valid points. Thank you.
One correction I need to make is that when I said “society”, I was indeed thinking of a smaller set that believes, or at least suggest, that some topics are indefensible. I’m also ignoring the deplorable voice because I know exactly what to expect from them. But you are right, this event doesn’t define us all.
I thought the people I know to be in a more progressive set would lean one way on this event and some of them didn’t. This was the surprise to me, this is what interests me, and so I wonder if other people are feeling similarly. I am obviously doing a poor job of listening, but I feel like I’m also hearing a lot of excuses.
I’ll also end here. Not going away mad, just reading the room.
It fills a need I think. A shared cultural experience we can all discuss that isn’t an existential threat. We used to do it with blockbuster movies like when Indecent Proposal came out, everybody had to have an opinion. Now even blockbuster movies are a bit niche, youtube recommends different channels to different people and we all get different google results even if we use the same search terms.
One of the most interesting things about this for me was noticing that when an acquaintance of mine brought it up, he mentioned that most everybody on his feed was pro rock and slowly shifted pro smith while my feed was completely the opposite.
So yeah, it may be dumb, but maybe we need a little bit of dumb entertainment to break our silos.
I agree that Will Smith’s behavior is comparable to an elementary school kid’s. Yep, sometimes people get smacked. And sometimes there’s consequences for doing something stupid.
Are you really trying to say that there was never any violence in American or that most America rejected violence, prior to this? We’re a country built on slavery and genocide. We’re a country that loves our guns and refuses to do SHIT about mass shootings OF CHILDREN. But sure… THIS is the real problem with America… Crack a history book, my dude… and not one of those that is written by the MAGA crowd…But by ACTUAL historians.
I’ve long admired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s writing.
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 ‘G.I. 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. 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. 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.
Hm. He makes some good points… 
Not sure if I 100% agree with all he said here, but as always, he’s thoughtful on a topic that’s clearly divided people…
Uh… no, it isn’t; that just seems like some grandiose excuse for continuing to feed into the melee.
I read about that tweet shortly after this happened and thought “that’s the biggest problem right there”.
It’s teaching young people that violence is an acceptable solution to words.
Our ENTIRE CULTURE does that. Our films, our music, our love of guns, the GOP, etc. etc. Smith is not somehow out of step with our misogynistic, violence loving society. White people are freaking out about this because he’s Black, and it’s at a white people thing where the expect the violence that our society actually perpetuates on regular basis (especially things like police violence against young Black men) to be hidden away safely and we can pretend like we’re an actual civilized society that is a meritocracy. That’s it. That’s the whole reason why we’re somehow STILL debating this. Because it’s two Black men in a white space… 
I think people are freaking out because it seemed completely out of character for Will Smith to display such toxic masculinity.
Again, I think a lot of White society sees Smith as “one of the good ones”; and his displaying behavior outside their rose-colored view of a real life ‘magical negro’ within their privileged White space made them highly uncomfortable.
The more people fixate on this spectacle, the more that assessment rings true to me…
I think a lot of white people laughed at this (myself included) without really understanding why (at the time anyway):
At the risk of repeating myself from above - Jim Carey repeatedly slapped and SPIT ON cast members off camera.
No furor over that white guy who has the nerve to call someone else disgusting for behavior he engaged in and took no responsibility for or publicly apologized for.
That’s an important part of this story because the story is about Jim Carey’s statement.
As a white person, I find the whole thing bizarre and interesting because two ultra famous, ultra rich, people behaved poorly on live prime time TV and it included a physical assault and then more ultra rich, ultra famous people applauded the assaulter.
Personally, I’d be talking about it no matter who they were. For me, it’s about rich famous people in general that get to play by very different rules, because if a co worker insulted my wife and I slapped them upside the head I would be facing very different consequences including being fired.
That’s what makes it a topic of discussion for me and the people I talk to.
Insulting your wife, over and over, for years? And she also works there? And you complained about it, to your employer and directly with the colleague who was doing the insulting?
Yeah, if they fire you after all that, you would have a hell of a wrongful termination lawsuit.
I want to live in the timeline where Abdul-Jabbar was the person-famous-for-something-else who won the 2016 election.
Grow the fuck up.
The point is still, very rich very famous people live by very different rules than the rest of the world.
Maybe I used a bad example, if someone insulted my wife with words and my response was hit them I would still be facing very different consequences. If it was later determined I was justified then those consequences might end up being the same as Will Smith but immediate consequences would definitely not be the same.
People in charge of the event including security and the police had no idea of their history.
My point was also, that opinion has absolutely nothing to do with what color Will Smith’s skin is. My opinion would be exactly the same no matter who the very rich and famous person was.
Unless they just happen to Black; then that factor ends up negating most of their privilege which comes from being rich and famous.
No matter what anyone claims, I still contend that had this been two White dudes who had a physical altercation at an awards show, the 24 news cycle would have moved on already.
The fixation is rooted in subconscious White Supremacy; like my Gram used to say, fish don’t get the concept of ‘water,’ because it’s everywhere in everything.
