New York, Europe Brief News – Will Smith’s slap to Chris Rock at Oscars sparked different media reactions.
Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in the face on stage at the Oscars after the comic made a joke about the actor’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith.
“Jada, can’t wait for GI Jane 2,” he said, in an apparent reference to her shaved hairdo – a result of the hair loss condition alopecia.
Smith walked on stage and struck Rock before returning to his seat and shouting: “Keep my wife’s name out of your [expletive] mouth.”
He later apologised to the Academy.
In a tearful acceptance speech for best actor, he also said he wanted to apologise to all his fellow nominees. There was no specific apology for Rock.
Different Reactions
“The Slap Heard Around The World” is how Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald has appropriately described it.
In the UK, The Telegraph‘s critic Robbie Collin branded Smith’s act as “the most shameful and unforgivable Oscar moment ever”.
The Guardian called the evening “a historic night for women – overshadowed by male violence.” The paper’s Catherine Shoard asked whether Will Smith’s personal history may in some part explain him lashing out. The writer points out how Smith has written publicly about his need to compensate for a childhood marred by domestic violence. Shoard also points to previous occasions when Rock has poked fun at Jada Pinkett-Smith.
On ITV’s popular Good Morning Britain show, hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley took different tacks. Speaking about the incident, Madeley described Rock as “rude” and “unlikeable,” saying he was the most “unpleasant person I’ve ever interviewed.”
But Reid responded: “I honestly think at the moment there’s quite a lot of justifying of someone who just hit someone else on television and just remember, apart from the fact it’s not OK to hit somebody, what is that saying to people watching.”
Writing for the aforementioned Sydney Morning Herald, Michael Idato called it “the Oscars’ lowest moment in history”: “The issues here are thorny. Rock’s comedy was risky, of course, but Smith’s reaction felt unwarranted. It is difficult to see Smith striking Rock as anything other than assault, regardless of the provocation. And there is an unease which follows when one question is left unanswered: whether Hollywood will accept, and therefore, normalise what happened, or dare to call Smith to account…One thing is certain: the Academy will hate this.”
