Will Smith slapping Chris Rock

[masterfins]

Will Smith gets my vote for most whipped husband of the year.  He laughed at the joke initially, then got the stink eye and his attitude changed completely.  C'mon man.

[stinkfish]

Will Smith gets my vote for most whipped husband of the year.  He laughed at the joke initially, then got the stink eye and his attitude changed completely.  C'mon man.

That’s what I noticed too. He thought that the joke was funny before he got the evil eye from Mrs.
On a side note, masterfins, you might want to be careful with how you haphazardly  throw the word “stink” around here. You’ve been warned.

[CF DolFan]

Wiil Smith is the most famous cuck out there and displayed the toxic masculinty people complain about because he is so insecure with his relationship with her.  

As far as the Oscars it is amazing to me he wasn't removed immediately. People are thrown out of comedy clubs and concerts all the time for heckling. The Oscars has tight security and yet no one felt they should remove a person who interupted the show and then committed violence on naional tv? The whole thing was f'ed up.

On top of it all the joke wasn't even bad but if it had been then it still doesn't excuse Smith or the lack of security surruonding it. Let me tell you if I start losing my hair, or even my wife, then our good freinds will be the first to bust our balls about it. If you can't laugh at yourself then you probably are dead inside.

[Dave Gray]

As far as the Oscars it is amazing to me he wasn't removed immediately.

I think that this is the point of all points.  Had he been removed, I think I can chalk this up to one person snapped and did a thing.  And then the normal consequences occurred.  And now, we can deal with the fallout of that person's atonement or whatever.

But the fact that the room full of people just sat there and the clapped for this guy 15 minutes later makes me feel like we're all complicit and this is a bigger deal than just one man crossing a line.

[CF DolFan]

^^^^^ unfortunately Hollywood, and rich famous people in general, get away with many things the average person never could. As such they get crazier with each generation and think whatever their standards are is the "norm". They litteraly live in a different world of consequences.

I love Jason Whitlock. He wrote this about the whole thing. “No one should be rationalizing Will Smith’s behavior. We should be pleading for him to get mental and emotional help. Stripping Smith of his Oscar might shake him from some of the delusion created by living the past 35 years as a pampered and entitled celebrity.”  - Jason Whitlock

[Dave Gray]

^ I don't think it's a rich people thing, specifically.

I heard a good take about this: We are at a place where social norms have not been enough to quell odd behavior.  Between people openly lying about things that are provable fact, to Jan 6th, to COVID and lockdowns -- there just aren't consequences for things that we assumed there would be.  People didn't storm the Capitol because you just don't do it -- it's hard to even imagine what life would look like if you did -- you just assume that you can't do that.  And then they did and it was kinda just like...nothing.  They just waltzed in and we all watched it happen.

I don't think we have a contingency plan, as a society, for how to deal with a millionaire slapping another millionaire in front of millions of households before accepting an award capping off the pinnacle of a storied career.  We don't have a playbook for that.  So, when it happened, we just did nothing and the lack of consequences has us fucked up.

[Phishfan]

I don't know who you are talking about or what exactly you mean by fucked up but I think too much thought and energy are going into it now. If any of the general public is fucked up by this I'd hate to know how they deal with real issues.

[CF DolFan]

^ I don't think it's a rich people thing, specifically.

I heard a good take about this: We are at a place where social norms have not been enough to quell odd behavior.  Between people openly lying about things that are provable fact, to Jan 6th, to COVID and lockdowns -- there just aren't consequences for things that we assumed there would be. 

You conveniently left out things like Trump colluded with Russia to win in 2016 and might be a Russian agent, Trump and his peeing Russian prostitutes aka the Steele dossier,  the “Muslim ban” that wasn’t, Hunter Biden's lap did not exist, or even the current "Don't say gay" law which it isn't anything of the kind.

With that said I agree with you. Politically and societal no one is accountable. Each side has many who flip flop depending on their interest and while everyone sees it they pretend they do not. Add in the comments on every forum or  online thread and pretty much anythng can be said with no accountability.  There's no way that can't hurt society's morality or what little of it we still have.

[Downunder Dolphan]

I think that this is the point of all points.  Had he been removed, I think I can chalk this up to one person snapped and did a thing.  And then the normal consequences occurred.  And now, we can deal with the fallout of that person's atonement or whatever.

But the fact that the room full of people just sat there and the clapped for this guy 15 minutes later makes me feel like we're all complicit and this is a bigger deal than just one man crossing a line.

Now the Academy has to deal with the fallout of this mess (partly their own making) and issue an appropriate punishment for Smith (which will drag out this saga further - but if they don't they will continue to be called spineless). Otherwise he may as well release a new aftershave called No Consequences with the advertising slogan "Just slap it on bitches!".

The bare minimum should be that Will and Jada are banned from next years Oscars, and fined at the very least the equivalent of their $150,000 "doggy bag" for attending (so at least $300,000). These folks receive that "gift" for attending, and if need be, smile and bear any joke that is made about them by the presenters, no matter how demeaning (as Kirsten Dunst did). As they decided they couldn't do that any more and made a public show of it, they can pay back what they received and piss off.

[Spider-Dan]

The bare minimum should be that Will and Jada are banned from next years Oscars, and fined at the very least the equivalent of their $150,000 "doggy bag" for attending (so at least $300,000).

Why should Jada be banned?

I mean, I think Will Smith did get up and slap Chris Rock directly because of her reaction, which is itself likely a result of their problematic relationship and rocky marriage.  But ultimately, every person is responsible for their own actions.  Jada Pinkett Smith did nothing but roll her eyes, and maybe give her husband the stinkeye because he laughed.  She did not order a Code Red.

I've been kind of hesitant to weigh in on this here, partially because of fatigue from discussing it and partially because I don't have much to add that hasn't already been said.  I understand why Will did what he did; he badly misread how his wife would respond to a joke that directly hit a raw nerve, and once she saw him laughing, it was either Do Something Now or he's finding another house to sleep in for a while (maybe permanently).  That does not excuse his actions, which were completely wrong.

I am certainly grateful to Chris Rock for his professionalism and self-restraint.  He's a professional stand-up comedian - someone who has spent no small amount of time thinking of comebacks for hecklers who can't take a joke and want to escalate - and after all the family business that Jada has put in the street, that couple is the very definition of a target-rich environment; he could have went extremely hard on the mic, people jump out of their chairs, and the Oscars are marred with an ugly brawl between The Rapper That Doesn't Curse and The Comic With A Beloved Family Sitcom.

But he chose to fall on his sword, at no small cost of personal dignity (especially for a rich person), and this choice saved the black community from newspaper headlines across the country declaring "Thuggery At The Oscars!"  I hope Chris Rock got a thank you call from the Obamas.

[Phishfan]

Chris Rock had no choice but to fall on his sword. According to almost everyone who takes a position on th ok to use violence he had a free pass, he was attacked. Whether his response, or lack of (I haven't even watched a replay) was out of fear (Smith would cream him in a fight), immediate calculation of the situation,  personal philosophy,  or shock we don't know. But in any scenario he had no other choice that puts him on top.

[Spider-Dan]

Chris Rock definitely had a choice: he could have absolutely nuked Will Smith on the mic.  I'm sure something along the line of "He wasn't even that mad at the man who had sex with his wife!" immediately came to mind.  And it would be hard to blame him; that's a pretty measured response to being slapped in the face.  (I think it's worth noting again that one of the privileges associated with being a multimillionaire is that you aren't supposed to EVER be subjected to that kind of physical disrespect for the rest of your life, so it's fair to say that there are many other rich celebrities that would completely lose their shit, with no regard for any consequences, in his place.  When's the last time you saw a famous multimillionaire get slapped on camera and just take it?)

But taking the clapback course of action definitely would have resulted in people jumping out of their chairs, and Chris would have forever been known as the host that incited the only on-stage brawl in the history of the Academy Awards.  Furthermore, Chris has also made some other statements indicating that he has some awareness of the negative stereotypes of "urban culture," so he would know that such action would do a LOT to further that negative perception.

[Dave Gray]

The Academy released a statement that they asked Smith to leave, but he refused.  ...not sure what to make of that -- you'd think that calling security is the next move there...

[Dave Gray]

You conveniently left out things like Trump colluded with Russia to win in 2016 and might be a Russian agent, Trump and his peeing Russian prostitutes aka the Steele dossier,  the “Muslim ban” that wasn’t, Hunter Biden's lap did not exist, or even the current "Don't say gay" law which it isn't anything of the kind.

Honestly, I wasn't just using this as an opportunity to dunk on Trump.

I just meant that (like or dislike him) Trump has eroded away our norms.  He just lies, gets called out, and it doesn't matter.  I don't even mean big stuff, but like lying about the crowd size thing.  It's not a huge deal, because who cares, but it was just something we'd never seen before because we thought there'd be consequences for it and there just wasn't.

Similarly, I just assume that there are things in place if you happen to go slap someone during the Oscars.  ...and there just aren't.  You go back and sit in your seat and things continue.

I wasn't ready for that.

[ArtieChokePhin]

I heard a good take about this: We are at a place where social norms have not been enough to quell odd behavior. 

This I can agree on but from a different point of view.   The new definition of a woman is a biological man who can't compete in men's sports.