The exclusive Oscars event holds a prestigious reputation in our society and in the world of entertainment. With it’s exclusive guest list comprised of A list celebrities, competitive awards that fill the room with eager nominees, and even gift bags estimated to be worth $225,000 (according to Forbes all 24 bags are valued at $5.4 million and each statue, made of 24 karat gold, costs $400 to make), this event is nothing short of depicting the lavish lifestyle of fame and success in this industry. However, this expectation was shattered when one of this year’s hosts, Chris Rock, was assaulted on stage by Will Smith.
At the Oscars, Chris made a joke about Jada’s, Smith’s wife, shaven head saying, “Jada, I love ya, G.I Jane 2 can’t wait to see it”. Jada has alopecia, a non-terminal skin disease that causes hair loss. G.I Jane was a film in 1997 with Demi Moore playing the first female candidate in the U.S Navy program. Moore shaved off her hair for the role as it has a focus on a strong woman in the army, not a focus on vanity. Demi Moore is a beautiful woman and looked great in the film, so this was not an insult to how Jada looks unattractive, but rather seemed to just be making a connection between two women shaving their heads.
Whether or not this joke took it a step too far, depending on how you feel about it, no host or comedian should be physically assaulted. Chris Rock handled the situation elegantly by laughing and going on with the show. Comedians are all about getting the audience to laugh and this includes saying the occasional dark humor or risky joke; which will always upset someone in some way. Some interesting and questionable observations were made of the situation such as how Will Smith had originally laughed while Jada immediately was upset or how the audience was confused whether or not it was staged until Smith’s outburst saying, “get my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth”, confirmed this was unplanned.
For background information before the Oscars, Jada had been in an interview released on tiktok where she said “I don’t give two craps what people feel about this bald head of mine”. In response to the incident of the slap many people on social media have been creating memes and tiktoks with the caption: “Well no one told Will”. Jada and Will’s marriage has been on interesting terms since there “entanglement”, as described on a Red table Talk episode, debacle where Jada had an affair with Jadan’s friend August Alsina back in 2016, when he was 20 and she was 45, during a time frame Jada claims her and Will were separated. Clearly, the effect this has had on their marriage is still present and there is something going on between the two for Will to lash out in such a way about a joke.
The industry of comedy has always had the expectation that people will continuously offend people and cross the thin line of dark humor; However, a comedian should never be humiliated and assaulted in this matter no matter the insult. This now calls into question how Will Smith should be reprimanded. Other actors have spoken up against Smith such as Amanda Seyfried, famous NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabber, Zoe Kravitz, Alec Baldwim, Mark Hamill, Stephen Colbert, and Tim Allen. Not only were observers of the incident stunned, but certain achievements were overshadowed due to it. Joseph Patel gained the achievement of being one of just a few South Asians to have ever won the award for the best documentary feature award for Questlove, but that is not widely known as all the news has been talking about is the assault rather than the achievements from the night.
Here is a statement by Jim Carry from an interview with CBS that really shows how this incident marked the 2022 Oscars:
“I was sickened by the standing ovation, I felt like Hollywood is just spineless. It really felt like this is a clear indication that we are not the cool club anymore…if you want to shout disapproval or tweet, but you do not have the right to walk up on stage and smack somebody because they said words…it didn’t escalate, it came out of nowhere because Will has something going on inside him that’s frustrating and I wish him the best…but that was not a good moment it cast appall over everyone’s shining moment last night, a lot of people work really hard to get to that place and to have their moment in the sun and to get their award for the really hard work they did…it’s a gauntlet of devotion and it was a selfish moment that casted appall over the whole thing”.
Some are calling for the Academy to remove his award, which I think is the appropriate response to these embarrassing actions that have put a stain on the organization and reputation of the event. Others believe a public apology will suffice so that this will not occur again and be a warning to all. The Academy tweeted that they “do not condone any violence”, but have yet to do anything after the event as well as did nothing during the event such as removing him from the room after a guest assaulted one of their hired employees. Chris Rock has said he will not press charges and will not be using any jokes related to this catastrophe during his current tour, but is coming up with some to use for his next one. Questions of how the Academy will deal with aggravated or insulted celebrities, protecting their employees (including any and all of the hosts), and security to prevent future assaults for the forthcoming Oscars, as well as any association’s celebrity events, are all prevalent.