It may not surprise my beautiful readers that I didn't watch the Oscars this past Sunday night. Mostly because I happened to be at work at the time (I've been happily employed since last November), and also because, as I've mentioned on this blog before, I've stopped caring about them in recent years. While I still believe there is a glimmer of hope for Hollywood and modern cinema, it won't be found at the Oscars anytime soon. Not helped by what has become the most talked-about moment from this year's show. One with seemingly no identifiable lines, but make no mistake, they were crossed nonetheless.
For those who also didn't watch the show but only heard about the event off-hand, and for those who may need a quick refresher, early into the show, comedian & actor Chris Rock appeared on stage to present the Oscar for Best Documentary. He made a joke aimed at Will Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, during his introduction. The joke was, and I quote: "Jada, I love you, 'G.I. Jane 2', can't wait to see it!" The joke was aimed at Jada's choice of hairstyle, a shaved head, due to a condition called alopecia, which causes hair loss. Needless to say, the joke was not well received by at least some of the audience.
This, in turn, apparently caused Will Smith to snap as he stormed the stage, marched right up to Chris Rock, and slapped him across the face on national television. Upon returning to his seat, Will Smith yelled at Chris Rock, "Keep my wife's name out of your F**king mouth!"
Now, there is a lot to unpack there, and without proper context, I would not dare to speculate on precisely what either of those two men were thinking at the time. However, I believe I can comment on what we all saw based on the context of the moment. Which is precisely what I will do.
First, let's examine the joke itself.
Simply put: it wasn't funny! Not just for how outdated it was but also for how unquestionably tasteless it was. Of course, Chris Rock has a reputation for cracking unfunny tasteless jokes, especially at award shows. Back at the 2012 Oscars, he received some much-deserved vitriol for his "joke" about voice acting in animation. Proclaiming it to be the "easiest job in the world." This is easy to say when you're a high-profile talent getting paid millions of dollars to voice a character for a big-budget animated film, but not so easy for the hundreds of thousands of underpaid, unrecognized, underappreciated voice actors working practically nonstop.
But I digress; let us move on to the slap.
While I do agree that Will Smith was in the right to stand up, defend his wife, and let it be known how tasteless the joke was, there were a hundred better ways to have done so. Will Smith could have easily told Chris Rock how tasteless the joke was, asked for an apology, or maybe even told a better joke about himself to redirect. Assaulting another person on national television was, at least in my opinion, equally tasteless and uncalled for.
In my opinion, this entire incident is nothing more than the tipping point of two creative people who let their worst sides get the better of them. Chris Rock should not have told such a tasteless joke, Will Smith should not have expressed his disdain in such a violent manner, and everyone really needs to take a step back and calm down.
The past two years have been a tough time for us all, and this unfortunate event is but a small part of the end results. We are, all too easily, allowing ourselves to believe that quick actions and thoughtless words are the solutions to the many issues we face today. Yes, we are all frustrated, annoyed, and afraid, but knee-jerk reactions are not the solution; they are part of the problem.
Please take a step back, take a deep breath, and seriously think about how you choose to react to the situation before you. Be the better person.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.
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