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Right or Wrong: Did Will Smith Slap the Chivalry Into Hollywood, or Put All Comics at Risk?

When actor Will Smith slapped comic Chris Rock at the Oscars, some saw a revival of chivalry, others saw a dangerous man and a risk to all insult comics.

Right or Wrong: Did Will Smith Slap the Chivalry Into Hollywood, or Put All Comics at Risk?

When actor Will Smith slapped comic Chris Rock at the Oscars, some saw a revival of chivalry, others saw a dangerous man and a risk to all insult comics. And others think it was all part of the show. What did you see?

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66 replies on “Right or Wrong: Did Will Smith Slap the Chivalry Into Hollywood, or Put All Comics at Risk?”

“WRONG WRONG WRONG. It was not INAPPROPRIATE.
A man is Internally in CONFLICT & UNCONSCIOUSLY asleep. He allows the EXTERNAL to define himself. The ANGER is bubbling within will smith’s head is a Volcano erupting.
A joke by a comedian is on the front lines of pushing the buttons of Society.

will smith a
his “toxic” masculinity for the the flavor of the Moment male feminism. He my humble opinion the Trifecta lost the deeper meaning of the event, period. Look outside the box.

There’s a couple of critical pieces of information Scott seems to be missing. (1) Chris Rock is adamant that he knew nothing of Jada’s alopecia. He just thought she’d shaved her head for a movie roll. That’s why he plucked GI Jane out of the air. Second, Will Smith and Jaden Pnkett-Smith have openly spoken about their having an “open marriage”. This allows either of them to fool around on their spouse. Jaden has no compunctions about being squired around town in low cut, plenty of side boob dresses with guys not her husband. Evidently Will is not above grabbing himself a little poon when he’s away from home too. This, for me, calls into question, Will’s suppposed outrage over his wife’s “honor”. I suspect it was more about his own image as a movie tough guy than anything that sent him up on stage and prompted him to add a little profanity for effect. Actors at functions like the Oscars are always on stage and I’m pretty sure he was thinking carefully how to play the scene.
You can’t.go by how real it looked. If you’ve seen Smith in “Pursuit of Happyness”, you know he’s quite capable of making fiction look very real.
And also, remember, how dismal the Oscar ratings have been in the last few years. They went up a bit this year, but I’d be willing to bet the ratings rose after the slap with people hitting Twitter and Messenger telling their friends, you should see what just happened at the Oscars.
It’s been so long since the Oscars awarded honors to any movie that broke even or that people even saw that few people other than celebrity gossip addicts, are even interested anymore. So, the Oscars have taken a page from the people who market Professional Wrestling it seems and got some backstory going along with some violence that was well-acted enough that you couldn’t tell if it was real or not. I’m sure the Oscar ratings will go up next year and without any help from me I might add.

Lets also add that one of the drug companies said they were coming out with a cure for Alopecia right after the event and since no one has been watching the awards, lets boost ratings!

Scott is wrong.

You do not assault somebody for something they say. 

I am a police officer in Texas and want to point out that YOU (not the person that said something) would be the one leaving the scene in handcuffs in this situation (in Texas, if you leave a mark on another person’s face/body, the state “presses charges”, regardless of what the victim wants).

Scott – do you carry a weapon? If so, you have a responsibility to de-escalate these incidents and try to avoid physical confrontations.

In a scenario where an armed person initiates a physical confrontation (over words uttered by another), finds themselves on the receiving end of a butt kicking, and in a panic resorts to deadly force, they will likely do time in prison.

Let’s leave the “I don’t like what you said, so I’m free to attack you physically” to the leftist loons.

Meh, you escalated the situation to include deadly force because you wanted to re-frame it from a man-to-man encounter to an “I’m a cop and that means I’m the state babysitter in charge here” sort of scenario. Don’t get your dander up before I explain …

There was a time in this country when if a man said something that could be considered “fighting words” he expected a fight. NOT to get his head blown off or his teeth kicked in or his skull fractured, just a man-to-man fist fight. Which admittedly can still be plenty dangerous and not something to be engaged in frivolously. So people were more careful not to go there and knew what to expect if they did. This was a holdover from the days Samuel Clemens referred to when he said “An armed society is a polite society.”.

It was an honorable thing that tended to keep people within some reasonable social bounds and teach a lesson to those who refused to acknowledge the borders of civility. Without running to a cop like some sort of pussy crybaby.

If you behaved yourself in a reasonable, decent, honorable manner you had nothing to worry about because it would be the person aggressing against you that was in the wrong and who would be shamed for that. Of course that was back when shame was a real thing and only applied to the shameful. Today that concept has been warped beyond recognition.

NO honorable man involved in either side of such an encounter would dream of calling the police over it. Or if the police were summoned by someone else neither participant would admit to a fight nor remotely consider pressing charges. That is a chickenshit thing to do. If you insulted someone to the point where it came to blows, you did that on purpose knowing the consequences. If you stood up for yourself against someone doing that to you or your wife or any such sort of scenario, you did that on purpose and knew the consequences too.

I’ve been on both the giving and receiving end of that kind of thing considerably more than once. I’ve intentionally goaded a man into fighting because I felt that’s what he had coming to him. He could either accept the shame and slink away or do something about it. Fine with me which ever way that went. I’ve been insulted to the point of fighting because that is what the insult merited.

Likely, going by what you said, you’ve never been in such a fist fight or you’d know all this. Which means you’re either a lot younger than me, live in a metro area where this kind of thing had become rare even by the late 60’s, or both. Where I grew up this was all very familiar, common knowledge.

Even in the scenario I describe it used to be that if the cops showed up, called by a third party, the officers would have a conversation with both men and determine it was “mutual combat” not requiring any further legal scrutiny. Back then the cops knew what time it was too. As long as no one used a weapon or excessive force (didn’t use a baseball bat or stove their opponents ribs in with multiple kicks while they were down and that sort of thing) it was just a ‘friendly’ fight and that was the end of it.

This is where the “Let’s step outside, shall we?” thing came from. That removed easy weapons at hand like chairs, pool cues, tableware etc. and precluded doing damage to the proprietor’s property that would result in legal issues.

It wasn’t illegal to fight, it was illegal to take a fight too far. So you didn’t.

This probably seems really weird to you but it was fairly common for both combatants to get up, dust themselves off, and stand each other a round of drinks too.

Those days are gone. They’re gone because people figured out that they could say any terrible, insulting thing to anyone else and get away with it. They’re gone because pajama clad soy-boys figured out that even if they took a well deserved ass-kicking for being an ass they could settle the score by calling the police. They’re gone because chickenshits didn’t just fight one-on-one, they got all their buddies to monkey pile the other guy and beat him to death. They’re gone because people got the law involved and used it not because they should but because they could. They’re gone because the honorable conduct of those days no longer exists and anyone can do any chickenshit craven cowardly thing to anyone else as long as he does not cross certain lines.

The idea that “if you leave a mark of any sort on someone the State will prosecute even if you don’t press charges” being applied universally to all situations is appalling. That law was very likely created to allow prosecution of wife beaters when the wife didn’t want to press charges and in that frame of reference it’s a good thing. No honorable man beats a woman but we all know that the broad abandonment of personal honor is all too common today. Part of the reason for that is because that woman’s brother or dad or uncle dare not give the coward the assbeating he deserves for doing that.

I’ve carried a weapon in both an official and personal capacity most of my life. I’m at least as well trained as any police officer and both more practiced and more experienced than most. I’ve been the one reminding a Federal Agent that we are not in a deadly force situation so get your damn hand off that sidearm. I know how to deal with going armed at least as well as you do. When you’re carrying a deadly weapon that is a completely different scenario than what Scott was talking about and you brought that up not him.

To be fair, there are a lot of people these days that have carry permits and do not understand the weight of the obligation when going armed. So I hope your tangent hit a nerve with anyone like that.

This rush to using the State as a babysitter and protecting people from the rightful consequences of their own actions is not an improvement in my opinion. That said, it doesn’t matter all that much to me either. If someone has a fight coming they’re going to get it and jail be damned.

I’m not an aggressor, I’ve never ever laid a hand on anyone that didn’t richly and unquestionably deserve it. It takes a lot to deserve that. I wouldn’t have marched up on a stage an slapped a comedian, I would have had a quiet conversation with him later and I do mean just a conversation. However, if you manage to surmount that peak of supreme assholedness and manage to deserve it — Don’t worry about the police, worry about me. I’m not a hot head either, I’ll chose my time and place to my greatest advantage and I’ll fight by my rules of honor until the other guy gives me no choice but to fight by his.

These were the rules of my generation and my generation is nearly gone. The disappearance of these standards is a loss to society not a gain and you’ll pay for discarding our values. You’re going to end up with a lot less civility and you’re going to need a lot more babysitters wearing badges.

Sorry, but I only read a fraction of your lengthy post.
I’m not in charge, but I know the law, and I’ve seen lots of situations that start out with words and escalate from there. The law goes against the aggressor, and except for specific, credible threats, words count as nothing.

… and because you didn’t read my “lengthy post” you didn’t actually understand what I’m talking about so you might as well have saved yourself the trouble of replying. I don’t care if you read it, or read this one. I am not compelled to speak my mind in tiny bits that come pre-chewed and easy to swallow. Most important concepts cannot be conveyed in 256 character Tweets. But thanks anyway.

I know the law too, and I know enough about The Law to know that it is increasingly less concerned with justice or what’s right and increasingly more involved with punishing anything that falls outside of what those “leftist loons” you mentioned consider acceptable compliance.

The law regarding battery is every bit as strict in CA where the Academy Awards are held as it is in TX. In fact, you don’t even need to leave a mark —

California Penal Code 242 PC defines the crime of battery as “any willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another.” You can be prosecuted for battery even if the victim does not suffer an injury or any pain. All that is required is that you touch the person in an offensive way. In California just like Texas (and every other State) it’s not a matter of the victim “pressing charges” or not. There is no legal significance to the words “pressing charges” where the victim’s opinion is involved and victims don’t decide when charges are filed in a criminal case. That’s TV baloney not real life. It doesn’t matter one bit if Chris Rock wanted Will Smith prosecuted or not though that’s a convenient excuse that’s being offered.

I’d say that getting out of his seat and intentionally marching up on a stage to purposefully strike another man pretty clearly meets the California definition of battery. I can’t think of a more obvious violation of the law that I’ve seen televised in a real life factual example. Strangely enough, though everyone saw the event on worldwide TV I haven’t heard of any gung-ho police officers rushing in to slap iron on Will Smith’s wrists so … Where’s this law you know so well?

Yeah, it’s not what you do but who you are. Clearly even in the Nanny State of California you can get away with battery because Will Smith was not and will not be charged.

If Scott Ott or I did what Will Smith did, especially if we did it to Chris Rock, we’d still be in jail.

Which proves the point I was making and you didn’t bother to read. Granted, you “know the law” so you probably didn’t bother to read this “lengthy post” either.

I have respect for the law, at least in principle when it is just and right. As standards for what is just and right I look to the Bible and the U.S. Constitution. I have respect for the police too, when they’re morally right in the application of their duties.

I don’t know you so don’t take this personally. I have known a lot of cops and while most are, not all of them are good guys. If you’re a LEO enforcing unjust laws “because it’s the law” or selectively enforcing laws then that’s nothing to be proud of. If you don’t, won’t or can’t take into account the moral distinction between bad guys and good guys, and believe that the only good guys are cops and what makes them so is a badge, then you shouldn’t be wearing a badge and carrying a gun.

I was in an FBI office once because my work meant interacting with those guys on a regular basis. They had a framed print on the wall, a quote by Thomas Jefferson that said …

“Enforcing the letter of the law while ignoring the spirit of the law serves neither letter nor spirit.”

Those FBI agents hung that on the wall where they would see it and be reminded every day. That was impressive enough that I never forgot it and that was nearly 30 years ago. It’s something that really stuck in my mind.

Those guys not only knew but understood the law, their job, and what it meant to be guardians of the public trust as well as protectors of the innocent. Too bad that’s not the standard any longer, huh Officer?

By the way, “An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.”
— From Robert Heinlein’s Beyond This Horizon

Washingtonian Texan here, and the law here is the same. If you assault anyone and in domestic violence situations, somebody will go to jail. If nobody presses charges, then the state will.

Then ask yourself one simple question …

“Why isn’t Will Smith in jail?”

There’s no such thing legally as a victim “pressing charges” or “refusing to press charges”. That’s not actually a legal thing. Sometimes the Prosecuting Attorney will respect the wishes of the victim but they don’t have to either for or against filing criminal charges. In every state in the nation if the State wants to file charges for a criminal offense then the State can file charges regardless of the wishes of the victim.

Sometimes the law enforcement personnel on scene will make a judgement call along those lines too but again, they don’t have to. If a cop makes the wrong call he can lose his job so there’s that.

Think about that for a minute. If all that’s necessary to get a perp off the hook is to get the victim to refuse to “press charges” then what is likely to happen with quite a bit of regularity? Yeah, the victim would be intimidated or threatened into dropping the charges quite often. So the State can and does file criminal charges whether the victim wants a prosecution to occur or not.

It can happen where the State needs the testimony or cooperation of the victim in order to prosecute a case successfully and the victim refuses to provide that. Sometimes that’s enough to get a case dropped because without victim cooperation a case cannot be expected to conclude with a successful prosecution. I.E. the victim is the only witness to the crime or has details essential to prosecution and refuses to provide them. That’s usually the kind of thing people mean when they say “refused to press charges”. The victim says “You can prosecute but I won’t testify or cooperate in anyway.’ so the State knows making a case will be difficult or impossible.

That’s not the case here. We all saw Will Smith commit the crime of battery on Chris Rock. The State of California does not need Chris Rock’s permission or cooperation to prosecute Will Smith for that. In fact, it would be a very brief trial because there’s no legal defense for what Will Smith did so it would be mostly a matter of showing the video evidence and rendering a verdict/sentence. In fact, it’s such a certain conviction there’s no reason for the prosecutor to even offer a plea agreement. The best Will Smith could do is to plead guilty and rely on the mercy of the court.

So …

Do you think that if you or I marched up on stage and smacked Chris Rock across the mug because he insulted one of our wives that we would not be sitting in jail right this moment? Whether Chris Rock wanted us to be there or not?

Are the oscars here in Washington State? If so, then I have no idea why he’s not in jail. On the other hand, WA is blue on the left half.

With the exception of some inconsequentialities the law in the United States is pretty uniform on matters of criminal battery. For all practical purposes it really doesn’t matter what State you’re in. If you purposely with clear intent walk up to someone and strike that person you are committing battery.

I get Scott’s point but these are not regular people. I agree with Bill. They are there for the PR and attention. They don’t honor their marriage vows (according to them) so there is no honor to defend. All about the publicity and I don’t watch it.

Thank you for commenting on their “marriage vows” and the so-called honor being defended.

OK – first of all, she has Traction Alopecia which is self-inflicted. It is caused by pulling on the hair too tightly, (braids, rollers), which is common for POCs. It is a temporary condition unless they don’t take a break from it from time to time where it can then become permanent. So it’s not due to what you’d normally expect and it’s certainly not a ‘debilitating disease’.
Secondly, she bragged a week before the show that she was proud of the way she looked with a shaved head. So that also tells us that she isn’t too awfully concerned about her looks to anyone else. So spare me the feigned sleight at being called the star of G.I. Jane 2
Lastly, she’s no a saint. Let’s just say they have an open marriage, but from what I’ve read, it’s only open on one side – hers.
Will laughed at the joke until I’m sure she gave him the evil eye. She’s just a self-indulgent narcissist that has him by the cajones. The slap was not an action of a man defending his wife. It was the action of a whipped husband. From my perspective, they both need help.

she’s an abusive woman. What she’s doing to him must be destroying his self-esteem & mental health in general.
jada’s hypocrisy “polygamy for me, but monogamy for thee”.

Interesting. My thoughts is it was done to increase views for the oscars, ticket sales for Will smith’s new movie, & ticket sales for Chris rock’s upcoming standup show.
I never thought of the Pfizer angle, it seems plausible too.
Hell, it could be all four.

yes, it was fake staged theatrics…… In my humble opinion. And this is the ONLY time I have ever given a thumbs down on a Bill Whittle video.

Leading comments:
Chris Rock was holding his hands behind his back, not in his pockets. And I suggest watching Joe Rogan’s take on this. And Rock’s joke, though perhaps insensitive could have been perceived as a compliment.
Chris Rock turning her medical condition into an endorsement for her to star in a movie sequel. Bad taste perhaps, but it was not a personal attack.

If you watch the seconds leading up the slap, Chris Rock leaned into Will Smith even when Will’s arm begin to rise and move in the hitting motion. The human natural defense instinct is to duck, or lean away or throw up your arms moving to protect the face. Chris Rock made none of these protective or defensive motions. And these automatic motions happen in the blink of an eye when one realizes they are being attacked. That is why I believe this was staged theatrics.

Secondly, Will Smith has ALWAYS presented himself with dignity. I am certain he is very capable of controlling his emotions and behaving responsibly. In fact, when Chris Rock got the joke out, Will Smith laughed with it. When Jada visibly was disturbed, Will flipped on a dime and took to his feet.

And why wasn’t Will Smith arrested and charged?? None of us regular people would get away with that. Assault charges do not require a plaintiff. If a thug hits an innocent person on the street and a cop see it, there is NO requirement for the victim to press charges. The police arrest and charge the thug
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I agree it’s fake. Disagree on the joke – it’s hilarious.
Jeff Jarret’s also done really good analysis.

yes, it was fake staged theatrics…… In my humble opinion. And this is the ONLY time I have ever given a thumbs down on a Bill Whittle video.

Leading comments:
Chris Rock was holding his hands behind his back, not in his pockets. And I suggest watching Joe Rogan’s take on this. And Rock’s joke, though perhaps insensitive could have been perceived as a compliment.
Chris Rock turning her medical condition into an endorsement for her to star in a movie sequel. Bad taste perhaps, but it was not a personal attack.

If you watch the seconds leading up the slap, Chris Rock leaned into Will Smith even when Will’s arm begin to rise and move in the hitting motion. The human natural defense instinct is to duck, or lean away or throw up your arms moving to protect the face. Chris Rock made none of these protective or defensive motions. And these automatic motions happen in the blink of an eye when one realizes they are being attacked. That is why I believe this was staged theatrics.

Secondly, Will Smith has ALWAYS presented himself with dignity. I am certain he is very capable of controlling his emotions and behaving responsibly. In fact, when Chris Rock got the joke out, Will Smith laughed with it. When Jada visibly was disturbed, Will flipped on a dime and took to his feet.

And why wasn’t Will Smith arrested and charged?? None of us regular people would get away with that. Assault charges do not require a plaintiff. If a thug hits an innocent person on the street and a cop see it, there is NO requirement for the victim to press charges. The police arrest and charge the thug

After all the kerfluffle came out about what happened, I did some research into the Smiths. I watched a thoroughly disgusting discussion on a video that had Will and Jada sitting at a table airing their dirty laundry. Apparently, Jada is not all that happy with her marriage and decided that she and Will would have an open marriage. Will was obviously in a lot of pain during the discussion, but went along with Jada’s completely self-absorbed twaddle about needing to be happy. It was absolutely horrible to watch. Jada is a very toxic woman and a spouse abuser. To me, if she’s so miserable in her marriage, then she should leave it cleanly and then be the slut she wants to be. Both of them indulged in cheating, but according to the discussion, Jada means to make it the foundation of the rest of their lives together. Will sat there as the perfect Beta man and allowed her to basically tell the world that he doesn’t have what it takes to make his wife happy. Believe me, I wanted badly to slap HER, and maybe that’s the basis of Will’s reaction. He can’t slap the woman he married and loves, and he can’t slap her lovers, but he can and did take out all his pain and misery on Chris Rock. There’s some very deep issues going on beneath the surface of Will Smith and I honestly feel sorry for him, just as I do Johnny Depp, who was married to a toxic woman. I think Chris did a good thing by not bringing charges against Will. I just hope Will can get some good counseling with a professional who will not be afraid to advise him to dump that horrible woman and find some peace. My beloved step-father was married to a toxic woman, my mother, and I saw how painful it can be. Men have a much more difficult time with handling such a relationship because they feel that if they leave the woman, they have failed. Women, on the other hand, at least usually have other women they can lean on until they can get out of a bad situation.

What else can we expect from people who pretend for a living? Nobody watches these arrogant, pompous, pretentious, buffoons until they pretend to be DECENT people… in a venue where decency is ostracized, mocked, and vilified. I wonder what their ratings will be next year as a result of this foolishness. “Point” goes to Bill. (If they have an “open marriage,” then neither of them has the slightest bit of “love” for the other.)

I enjoyed the discussion on this one. As human beings we can view the same situation and have very different reactions. I appreciated each view point and find myself agreeing with all of them, including the reporter’s opinion that Scott read at the beginning.
When I look at the replay of what happened, to me there’s a good chance the event was staged, but that it faltered in the execution. Unless someone comes forward and confirms it, we won’t ever know for sure. But there were enough inconsistencies in each person’s behavior that I can’t really say for sure that it was all ‘real’. The joke Chris Rock told in this instance seemed mild enough, I’m not sure why it triggered the reaction it did, if the reaction was genuine.
Ricky Gervais’ Oscar hosting performance was mentioned. I enjoyed what he said in his monologues, not so much because it was all that funny, but because he was taking a very large pin and bursting that very large balloon of preening and self-love that was filling the auditorium. Making fun of the high and mighty has been a source of humor since forever. It’s a way of cutting them down to size, especially when they are so prone to virtue signaling over the rest of us. It’s not a commendable thing on my part to enjoy seeing them get their comeuppance so publicly, I do freely admit.
Ridiculing famous or powerful people is actually much more hurtful to them than what we want to admit. They’re just people, like us, and it’s painful to be ridiculed so others can laugh. Knowing that it was “just a joke” doesn’t change the casual cruelty of it. Jada Pinkett Smith is a person, not just a celebrity.
Which brings me to the reporter who felt that Will Smith’s reaction was not really a suitable reaction in defense of his wife. I thought about how I’d feel if it was my husband, and while I might like it that he’d stand up for me, I wouldn’t at all like my husband hitting someone and cursing at them. That puts the emphasis on the man defending the woman and it would have been completely out of proportion to what was said. Physical and verbal abuse are ugly, and unless it’s in response to very heinous behavior it actually would feel demeaning to me as his wife. It would have been much better if he’d done something like walking over to his wife, taking hold of her hand to lift her to her feet, then kissing her head and smiling, announcing how very beautiful she is. It would make the same point, and would spotlight his wife’s beauty instead his own ugly behavior.

Jada was not being physically attacked and did not need physical defense. The sight of her husband hitting a guy a foot shorter than he is and then profanely shouting at him to tell him not to do what he has every right to do – well that was not impressive. It made me think “you can dress them up but that doesn’t mean they’re civilized.” Will proved it.

What I find is really interesting is what Scott mentioned around the 18:00 mark. Chris Rock did a documentary on black women and hair. It is really eye-opening, especially culturally. I found out lots of things that I never knew. One of the top three or four exports from India is hair, primarily for wigs on black women. Many black youths don’t learn to swim because mom does not want to deal with her hair at the pool. These and lots of other ‘factoids’ make it a good watch.
What Will Smith did was wrong, not chivalrous in my opinion, and probably was a manifestation of his being cuckhold, as many have said. I think Will has been lying to himself for over a decade that his open marriage is OK with him deep down in his soul. It is patently obvious that it is not. Jada is, my opinion here, without morals and is a cruel/self-centered/callous XX chromosome that I couldn’t bring myself to call a woman.

One last note for me on this stupid thing I didn’t watch live….Wondering if it had been “The Rock” instead of Chris Rock, just how likely would Will Smith gone up against Dwayne Johnson and smacked him across the face? Real tough to smack down a guy much smaller and weaker than you, huh Will Smith.

I’m with you, Scott. Insulting people is NOT funny. Self-deprecating humor is OK, but borderline. There is lots of funny stuff out there. Comedians who use these cheap shots are just lazy.

Insult humor is often funny because of the ring of truth that underlies the joke. Insult humor can be hilarious, frequently requiring deep thinking and a broad reference base. It is often not just a cheap shot and, like freedom of speech in general, while uncomfortable, it should not be dismissed as wrong. That said, my major issue with comics is the cheapness of using curse words every other sentence, if not every other word.

Rick Gervais’ rant at his ceremony hosting was hilarious because it was PRECISELY accurate; not just a “ring of truth.” 🙂

  1. Alopecia is also targeted by Pfizer who announced Phase 3 Trials for same. Also, by convenient coincidence, was also a big funding source for the Oscars. Personally, I think it was rigged. “1st real moment”? Dunno. Follow the money and corruption. Just like Janet Jackson ‘accidental’ nipple exposure, and subsequent sales of her nipple-pins. Want to bet Chris Rock knew the slap was coming? (hands in pockets)
  2. Agree w/Bill. Bad taste Smith, take it off-line. Smith seriously needs to grow a f’ing pair. The Smith’s BOTH cash the checks associated w/being a public figure, so they know the f’ing consequences. Pussy move – should have been arrested for what looked like an open handed man-slap.
  3. Who actually watches the Oscars? I sure as hell do not. This audience seems to expect the low-brough humor, as they’ve done these jokes for years (now) and people just keep coming back for more.
  4. I’ve ‘survived’ two wives and would have done ‘whatever’ it took to protect them, but direct insults, more specifically words, fall under my rule “stick & stones”. What this implies (for me) is I’d rather walk away, turn the other cheek, and then curse/pity the morons, imbeciles, and idiots that feel they can be cruel at the cost of anyone else.
  5. Smith/Rock? Two wrongs don’t make a right. “To err is human but to forgive is divine”. Will Smith stock? Sell, sell, sell.

I don’t know. I don’t blame either of them. Chris Rock was doing what he’s supposed to do – and Will Smith did what I think he had to do.
That said, unless Rock wants to press charges, I don’t see a reason to arrest Smith. People used to be able to fight, even fisticuffs, without the law thinking it needs to be involved. Let them sort it out as men.

I’m with Bill on this, these people joke and roast each other on these shows that I never watch, all the time. Yes, they’re actors, of course it was staged and they’re getting exactly what they needed/wanted. Publicity, good or bad publicity, it doesn’t matter it’s still the same.

Rumble is now up-to-date. Perhaps it was just the chosen order of upload chosen this week.

While I was totally unaware of this incident prior to tuning in here, it may perhaps be of some significance to remember that traditionally a simple slap, at the time of offense, was the official “challenge” to be resolved on “the field of honor”. So that if it was in fact really a true attempt at chivalry, a follow up in some form would be expected to precipitate from that slap. Pretty sure it ain’t gonna happen, so it was more than likely just some street theater to help the ratings!

These people don’t deserve any attention for this display of ass-holery, but naturally it’s being commented about and analyzed ad nauseum. I was sort of hoping our guys would ignore it. Since they brought it up, I will offer my opinion – it was planned, feigned and staged. I didn’t watch the Oscars – haven’t seen it in over 50 years and will die before it will ever happen.

Scott, you are being a Polly Anna in this instance. They don’t have an actual marriage – he’s gay and they are both polyamorous – they haven’t hid it and in fact display vulgar and deviant behavior quite conspicuously, including Smith mauling his son with attempts to kiss him on the mouth publicly. Definitely not in a paternally affectionate manner.

Do they love each other? I don’t know, nor care, but Smith’s action toward Rock was not a chivalrous attempt to defend his wife. It was narcissistic attention seeking from an actor who is widely regarded as unmanly, probably and most especially by his wife, who in fact has no room for being upset for some perceived minor insult. His teary babbling while accepting the Oscar he probably doesn’t deserve was cringe inducing.

Beat up on each other? Did you see that slap? It was a girly slap not intended to impose any hurt or damage.

There! See what you made me do? Now I’m guilty of paying attention to these idiots.

I don’t buy any of it. Chivalry is dead in Hollywood; it’s all play acting to increase ratings. The Oscars have always been nothing more than a televised gossip rag to gin-up sympathy and attention from the unwashed masses, so I just don’t care.

We no longer have the ability to laugh at ourselves. For decades we see CHILDREN shaving their heads in sympathy for a friend undergoing cancer therapy. If this was such a big deal WHY did she leave the house without a wig????? Avoid the whole thing from the git-go.
On the other hand, neither Rock or Smith or Jada has as much media presence as years ago, awards programs are losing following, etc. ANYTHING they do MAY be aimed at making awards programs – and themselves – relevant.
Nothing hurts passe stars like being ignore.

Will Smith appeared not to be in charge of his emotions, exhibiting explosive rage and then tears. Although I don’t know what Smith has been going through in his personal life, this type of behavior is most often seen among people who have been drinking excessively or using certain drugs. It also occurs in those who have had repeated concussions. It is a question but not an excuse. Whatever the reason, his actions eclipsed not only his award but also the much-deserved recognition of everyone else that night.

As far as this specific event goes, I can’t be bothered to muster up enough concern for the situation to care even a little bit. If it was intentionally scripted or if it was spontaneous doesn’t matter to me at all. There’s no way I’m going to sit through an entire Oscars ceremony just on the off chance there might be a few seconds of excitement. Those people mean nothing to me outside their professional lane when they are performing their only valid roles as actors on a screen.

I don’t care about all the permutations regarding free speech, public figures, etc. Will Smith slapping Chris Rock as if they were both women isn’t going to change the world in any significant way. It wasn’t a masculine thing to do, it wasn’t a meaningful thing to do, it was just two wimps doing what wimps do. I saw it too, same as everyone else and it’s what I call a “hamster fight”.

I get what Bill’s saying, I saw what Victor Von Doomcock (DVD Overlord on YT) said about it and … Meh. A hamster fight just isn’t that important.

The subject of general respect for women is a different matter.

It’s only happened that I had to do something about that twice in my life and the same person wasn’t involved both times, they were separate incidents. One incident involved my wife and one involved a friend of my wife who was out for the evening with us. In both cases the offending person had a bad day. Details intentionally withheld to spare those who might be averse to such things.

A woman in my company is under my protection. FULL STOP. If you don’t want a fresh batch of pages in your medical record, be respectful of people and comport yourself like a civilized decent human being. If you don’t start nothin’ there will be nothin’.

That said, I’m not impressed at all when a phoney Hollywood actor bitch-slaps another of the same sort. Smith didn’t even have the manhood to do anything but slap like a woman. Even then he hits like a little girl. I watched carefully and Chris Rock didn’t even have the red paw print on the side of his face that would have accompanied a solid hit so … Big yawn on this whole thing.

Would have been much more entertaining had Rock begin to backpedal as Smith approached, then run all around the stage avoiding a chasing Smith…just like a 3rd grader playing steal the bacon on the school playground…they could have milked it for minutes for a great comedy moment, point would have been made and no apologies needed.
Dan Bongino noted yesterday that when someone who is a foot taller than you approaches in an aggressive manner right after you made a tasteless joke about his wife, the smart thing to do would have been to raise your hands up, create a defensive space, and be ready to block what’s coming at you next…Chris Rock….clever, but not very bright.

I’m with Doomcock on this. It doesn’t matter if the incident was scripted or not.

The point here is that the incident promoted the idea that violence against somebody that says something that you disagree with is appropriate.

Notice that, immediately after the incident, it was Will Smith being consoled. It was Will Smith holding back tears. There was no empathy for Chris Rock, the victim of the violence.

This is the media narrative. Violence against wrong-speak is ok. It is even heroic in some eyes.

Steven Crowder had basically the same take. This means open season on comics, especially those who offend leftist sensibilities. Our words are violence. Their violence is speech.

Well, Scott, you are right. Members will respond. I totally agree with Bill and Steve. You carried on as if they have “the marriage of the century.” Your response had more than a tinge of “woke” in it. He had no right to do what he did, and that phony “acceptance speech with the tears flowing” was too much. I watched this on the morning news the next day, because I have not wasted watching the Oscars for at least 10 years. I got weary of their “lecturing” the public and with their horrible ratings, I think many others feel the same way.

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