Telling jokes at the Oscars has always been a terrible gig, because it requires making fun of people who are sitting right in front of the stage. If they scowl, it freezes the audience, and then everyone says the comedian went over the line. This makes the potential for embarrassment ever-present.
But until the94th Academy Awardson Sunday, March 27, no one ever considered there might be an even worse potential in this set-up — the potential for violence. That is, not untilWill Smith, responding to a jokeChris Rockmade about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, loped onto the stage andslapped Rock in the facein the midst of the live show.
Until then, it had been a boring award ceremony, one of the most boring Oscar’s ever, and that’s saying something, considering the fierce competition. But with that slap — and the subsequent banter, which was bleeped on television for U.S. viewers but made its way onto social media within minutes — this became the Oscar that will forever be known as the one in which Will Smith slapped Chris Rock and yelled, in a booming voice (not once, but twice): “Keep my wife’s name out of your f—in’ mouth.”
Or you can call it what Rock called it a few seconds later, as he tried to steady himself: “The greatest night in the history of television.”
Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars was bad. His speech was even worse
克里斯·洛克和争议智慧有很长的历史h Oscars telecasts
Warning: The following video contains explicit language
The Full Uncensored video of Will Smith’s altercation with Chris Rock at the#Oscarspic.twitter.com/cGQ3plSEiz
— Movies (@moreoffilms)March 28, 2022
Opinions are going to be split about what was a pretty straightforward event: Rock made a joke about Pinkett Smith’s baldness, caused by her alopecia diagnosis that she revealed in 2018. Referencing Demi Moore’s shaved head in “G.I. Jane” (1997), Rock said, “Jada, love ya. ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it.”
Initially, Smith laughed along with the audience. But Pinkett Smith looked stricken, and a few seconds later, Smith, in a calm yet menacing way, walked on stage straight to Rock and did the deed for which he will be most remembered. He added flashy content to what will be the first paragraph of his obituary.
Was he justified? Rock didn’t seem to think he was doing something cruel. But to make a joke about a woman’s appearance, especially about something so painful as baldness — it’s just not a good idea.
On the other hand, he wasn’t saying she lookedbad.He was just saying she looked like G.I. Jane. Again, not a good idea, and we can all understand the impulse of a husband wanting to do something direct, tangible and immediate in response. But the intent behind the joke was clearly not vicious.
In any case, is this where we are now? If you don’t like a joke, you can just hit the comedian? Or perhaps you’re allowed to hit the comedian if you’re a big shot like Will Smith. If you’re anyone else, you have the right to an attorney and anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
Yes, Smith defended his wife, but let’s face it. He wasn’t exactly Volodymyr Zelenskyy out there. He wasn’t risking a thing, and he could have defended his wife in another way.
Also, we’re already in a place, as a culture, where the surest way to win any argument is to say, “That’s not funny.” Comedians don’t even play college campuses anymore, because students are afraid to laugh. If we start punching out court jesters for stepping a half an inch out of line, we’re all going to be the worse for it.
Smith’s action does not deserve praise. And yet he seemed to be seeking it about 20 minutes later, when he accepted the Oscar for best actor forhis starring rolein the Venus and Serena Williams biopic on their father,“King Richard.”
菜的一次演讲中,他的所有坏的质量ities as an actor, he was sentimental, self-serving and yet plainly sincere, saying, through tears, “I’m being called on by God, in my life, to love people and to protect people.”
Really?
Then he apologized to the Academy, but not to Chris Rock, which would have meant something.
Everything else that happened at the Oscars was rendered an anti-climax.“CODA”won best picture, marking yet another example of how underdogs keep winning in that category ever since the academy switched to ranked-choice voting (“The Power of the Dog”had been favored);Jessica Chastainwon best actress (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”) and deserved it; Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”) and Troy Kotsur (“CODA”) won in the supporting categories, and they were good, too.
In fact, aside from Smith, it was a pretty nice lineup of winners. But Smith found a way to steal the show anyway.
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