Will Smith just won an Oscar for the ‘Best Actor’ category for his performance in ‘King Richard’. But this is not the reason he has grabbed headlines and is trending all over on social media. Smith slapped comedian and actor Chris Rock after he made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, which was in bad taste.
According to several people online, both Will Smith and Chris Rock are to blame. Will is being slammed for his act of physical assault, while Chris is being blamed for insensitively taking a dig on Jada’s alopecia, a physical ailment that causes hair fall and balding.
In case you missed Will Smith slapping Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars for making fun of his wife Jada’s health condition pic.twitter.com/HGJsB6xhfX
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) March 28, 2022
However, this isn’t the first time that Chris Rock has attacked Jada on the Oscars’ stage with his ‘jokes’.
Back in 2016, Jada Pinkett Smith had boycotted the Oscars along with a couple of others due to the lack of diversity of the nominees. According to US Weekly, Chris had said:
“Jada said she’s not coming. I was like, ‘Isn’t she on a TV show?’ Jada’s gonna boycott the Oscars? Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited!”
Let’s not forget Chris Rock’s opening monologue from the 2016 Oscars where he shades Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/DkUPHXVDyE
— Chris Witherspoon (@WitherspoonC) March 28, 2022
Jada had taken to Facebook to question the lack of diversity in the Oscars nominations that year.
“I can’t help but ask the question: Is it time that people of colour recognize how much power, influence, that we have amassed, that we no longer need to ask to be invited anywhere? Begging for acknowledgement, or even asking, diminishes dignity and diminishes power. And we are dignified people, and we are powerful. So let’s let the Academy do them, with all grace and love. And let’s do us, differently.”
Will Smith supported his wife back then and didn’t attend the Oscars too. Jada had responded to Chris Rock’s statement and said, “It comes with the territory, sweetheart. But we gotta keep it moving. There’s a lot of stuff we gotta handle, a lot of stuff in our world right now. We gotta keep it moving.”
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Fans online were quick to point this out:
Violence is never the answer, but Chris Rock went for Jada in 2016 at the Oscars and now where she has a condition he has come for her again!!! I know comedy is his job but an illness is too far and Will being the husband reacted! Every action has a reaction 🤷🏽♀️
— V.D. 🇨🇻🇬🇼🇵🇹 (@MsVMoreno) March 28, 2022
“Violence of any form” does that include violence of speech?
Btw why did you choose Chris Rock even though he made discriminatory remarks at 2016 academy???
If you haven’t hired him that shouldn’t have happened right?#Oscars https://t.co/FGXGs8BvCE
— Alyssa🦄🏳️🌈 (@alyssa_film) March 28, 2022
Y’all forgetting Chris Rock was talking shit about Jada in 2016 the last time he hosted the Oscars. Will tired of him talking about his wife period
— khaia👩🏾🦰 (@_khaig) March 28, 2022
I also just remembered than when Chris Rock hosted the #Oscars in 2016, he also took a dig at Jada, who led a charge to boycot that year’s ceremony over #OscarsSoWhite … maybe there’s more bad blood there than we knew.
Not an excuse. Just another factor https://t.co/knXso8yRhI pic.twitter.com/vRIRWlSsmK
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) March 28, 2022
While this time Jada hasn’t made any official statement yet regarding the Smith-Rock incident, reports suggest that Chris Rock has refused to file a complaint against Will Smith.
“LAPD investigative entities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program. The incident involved one individual slapping another. The individual involved has declined to file a police report. If the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report,” said the Los Angeles Police Department in a statement.
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