Will Smith did *what?*

[JayMysteri0]

I personally refuse to get on any ground about what Smith did was right or wrong, as I can see the legit points from all sides.

The thing not to forget though is the target of CR's joke.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1508447596783800326/

I'm also a lot more interested in the periphery stuff going on with all of this.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1508283264632508419/

The amount of 'street cred' Smith got from men, is equal to the condemnation he gets from women

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1508293982287237123/

Which brings up some interesting conversations.

Back to CR it doesn't matter if he knew or not. Jada has been a frequent target of his, and he went low talking about her appearance. As we say, "You can anything you want, you also have accept & expect the consequences."

 

[Eric]

Yep. I mean, do you think will and jada have never made a joke about anybody’s appearance? I suppose they may be saints, but I’m guessing they may have.

Additionally, if you're sitting up front you need to expect to be a target.

 

[JayMysteri0]

Coincidentally

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1508450430673637382/

The actual movie clip of the movie Head of State released 19 years ago today

 

[Cmaier]

Will smith insulted me with I am legend, so I guess I get to punch him in the face next time I see him.

 

[Joe]

Will Smith did more to defend his wife than Ted Cruz.

 

[JayMysteri0]

Will smith insulted me with I am legend, so I guess I get to punch him in the face next time I see him.

You're free to do whatever you want.

Just don't expect him to be like CR & have to continue on with his hosting duties to keep the show moving, and not press charges.

It might help if you win the Nobel Peace Prize 10 minutes later, so you can give a tearful apology during your acceptance speech.

Otherwise...

 

[DT]

I think the Academy should take back his award.

Yeah, in the moment, I'm not sure what else they (the Academy/show producers) could do. The Williams family was present, the awards are all pre-determined, counted, sealed, it's not like there's a backup winner, there were other awards after the incident, etc.

But I suspect now that it's over they'll give it some [re]consideration.

Also, since Rock, while pretty shocked at what happened, didn't seem to have too much of a problem continuing, I guess they just let it roll. I'd imagine if Smith would've punched him and done some damage, things would've gone differently.

 

[DT]

Will Smith did more to defend his wife than Ted Cruz.

Hahaha, yeah, I saw some Tweets along the lines of: There's a way to defend your wife that's somewhere between Smith and Cruz.

 

[Eric]

Yeah, in the moment, I'm not sure what else they (the Academy/show producers) could do. The Williams family was present, the awards are all pre-determined, counted, sealed, it's not like there's a backup winner, there were other awards after the incident, etc.

But I suspect now that it's over they'll give it some [re]consideration.

Also, since Rock, while pretty shocked at what happened, didn't seem to have too much of a problem continuing, I guess they just let it roll. I'd imagine if Smith would've punched him and done some damage, things would've gone differently.

Right, they had like 2 minutes to react and an award winner who caused it, not sure what else they could've done. IMO the damage to Will Smith's credibility will be far worse than anything they can do in the long run.

 

[NT1440]

Personally I never understood the idea of taking away an award in response to something. It reeks of impotent “we have to do something”…when no, no your self congratulatory prize committee does not have to do anything.

I’ve always found Chris Rock and Will Smith to be annoyingly out of touch living in their insulated world. Let the drama happen between them, there’s really nothing more that anyone else HAS to do.

 

[Joe]

 

[Roller]

Right, they had like 2 minutes to react and an award winner who caused it, not sure what else they could've done. IMO the damage to Will Smith's credibility will be far worse than anything they can do in the long run.

It's clear that nothing could be done in the moment, and I can understand that rescinding Smith's award might not be meaningful and could lead people to ask why other awardees (Harvey Weinstein comes to mind) weren't similarly punished. I don't know if Smith will suffer any long-term consequences, but he could have avoided damage by saying more about why he reacted violently and explicitly apologizing to Chris Rock during his acceptance speech — something along the lines of "I'm sorry I hit you and said what I did, but your joke at the expense of my wife was an insensitive cheap shot. I hope we can both learn from this experience."

 

[Cmaier]

It's clear that nothing could be done in the moment, and I can understand that rescinding Smith's award might not be meaningful and could lead people to ask why other awardees (Harvey Weinstein comes to mind) weren't similarly punished. I don't know if Smith will suffer any long-term consequences, but he could have avoided damage by saying more about why he reacted violently and explicitly apologizing to Chris Rock during his acceptance speech — something along the lines of "I'm sorry I hit you and said what I did, but your joke at the expense of my wife was an insensitive cheap shot. I hope we can both learn from this experience."

I think they should let let him keep the award, but he can’t attend the ceremony again in the future - I mean, how would anyone feel safe if he is there?

 

[fooferdoggie]

Hahaha, yeah, I saw some Tweets along the lines of: There's a way to defend your wife that's somewhere between Smith and Cruz.

How much you wan to be cruz did not search for how well that tweet went?

 

[SuperMatt]

Only thing that could have been done would be for Kanye to interrupt Will’s acceptance speech and talk about how it should have been Beyoncé up there!

 

[DT]

Only thing that could have been done would be for Kanye to interrupt Will’s acceptance speech and talk about how it should have been Beyoncé up there!

Kanye is starting to look == less== crazy

 

[JayMysteri0]

Until Smith is making music videos that include burying his ex wife's new boyfriend...

Uh, ...no.

 

[JayMysteri0]

Kanye is starting to look == less== crazy

The jokes are just REALLY getting started too

 

[DT]

OMG! Hahaha nice, well, that will be his punishment ... he thought it was bad before.

 

[Clix Pix]

I watched the broadcast live last night and like everyone else, was stunned when that whole incident went down. Wow! OK, here's my take:

Tensions were already high due to the nature of that event and Will Smith was up for a very important award. Undoubtedly his nerves were already somewhat frayed. It wasn't an ordinary role that he'd played, either -- he was cast in the role of the father of the Williams sisters, renowned tennis stars, and they and their mother had entrusted him with the depiction of their father.

So Chris Rock gets out on stage and begins his patter and then makes what presumably he found humorous, supposedly a joke, and when the camera was on Will Smith he was laughing and his wife, the subject of that particular jab, was rolling her eyes. When the camera cut back to Chris Rock, he should've left it that it but instead he went on to say something like "...and that was a nice one..." while laughing and smirking. I think that, in combination with Will in the meantime having realized that Jada did not think that the joke was funny at all, is what ignited the fuse and propelled Will out of his seat and up to the stage, where he delivered that "slap that was seen and heard around the world."

Like everyone else viewing that incident, my first thought was, "what the -- ??" as I stared at the TV, confused. Was this some sort of staged pseudo-drama? Was it real? Didn't take long to figure out that, yes, it was very real, as the audio feed abruptly cut out and I could easily lipread what Will Smith, back in his seat, was shouting, including a word not permitted on American television. Wow.....

I can imagine that everyone there in the theatre audience was shaken by that whole incident and it was apparent even to TV viewers watching at home how the energy in the room suddenly shifted.

While this definitely was not the appropriate way to have expressed his displeasure at the "joke" made at his wife's expense, I really can understand how Will Smith for just a few moments was overcome by fury and lashed out.