I hate this because I was such a massive fan of Will Smith. His music was popular during my teenage years, and his TV shows and movies were always at the top of everyone’s must-watch list.
But the moment he walked up to comedian and actor Chris Rock during the Academy Awards and struck him in the face was the end of my admiration, as it presumably was for many others.
Smith wasn’t arrested or booted from the awards show. Instead, he was comforted by some of his fellow Hollywood elites in a disgusting post-assault scene. And then he had the audacity to give an award acceptance speech in which he labeled himself a “vessel of love.” Unbelievable.
Here’s a quick clip reminding you of Smith’s egregiousness that night.
#PiomPiom
During the #Oscars #Oscars2022 #oscarawards yesterday's night, Will Smith; *slaps Chris Rock for making an ableist joke about his wife's autoimmune disorder* pic.twitter.com/1sMW1Zno9w— GREAT MALABITE™© (@Prof_aboki) March 28, 2022
Even though Smith was banned from the Oscars for a decade due to his flagrant assault — an assault for which you and I would have been arrested and thrown in jail — that hasn’t stopped him from pursuing his acting career.
PJ Media’s Gwendolyn Sims nailed it:
For my money, this seems like a slap-on-the-wrist for a slap-in-the-face public assault, especially since Smith had already resigned from the Academy in the days following the incident. Rock absolutely should have pressed charges against Smith in order to deter anything like this from happening again to himself or his fellow performers, not just inside the protective Hollywood bubble but out here in the real world as well.
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In what appeared to be an awkward moment of desperation to convince people to watch his latest flick, Emancipation, Smith, in his first major television interview since the assault, told Daily Show host Trevor Noah that he simply “lost it” that night. As if that’s a reasonable justification to strike someone in the face in front of millions of people with zero legal consequence.
“There’s many nuances and complexities to it … but at the end of the day, just, I lost it,” Smith said, according to Axios. “I guess what I would say is, you just never know what somebody’s going through … and I was going through something that night.”
Trevor Noah asked Will Smith about the Oscars Slap… Its a long conversation, this is a small part. pic.twitter.com/n3rQLaLV91
— Emmanuel Lumumba (@e_lumumba) November 29, 2022
Smith also rambled on about “being nice to each other.”
“We just got to be nice to each other, man,” Smith said. “It’s hard. And I guess the thing that was most painful for me is, I took my hard and made it hard for other people. I understood the idea when they say hurt people hurt people.”
Noah’s response was equally disgusting and fake. He added a hug at the end for good measure.
Ppl were hurt, because we love you and we love what you do. I think I speak for people when I say I don't want that to define you. I hope you don't stay hidden forever. I hope you know that you not being perfect is what'll make you perfect. You're Will Smith, man!
~ Trevor Noah. pic.twitter.com/PA5SWxrMdZ
— Joel Khamadi (@Joel_Khamadi) November 29, 2022
Smith addressed the elephant in the room, in that he admitted the general public might not be ready to support his films while Rock’s eye and face are still essentially on the mend.
“I completely understand — if someone is not ready, I would absolutely respect that and allow them their space to not be ready,” Smith said, which was a line of patronizing garbage, at best.
As many celebrities tend to be, Smith is clearly out of touch with reality and no longer able to read a room. It’s going to take more than a few months and a staged apology to convince former fans to hand over their hard-earned money to watch him act again.
His new film might be fantastic, I don’t know. I also don’t care. What an absolute joke it is that Smith is bundling his first major TV apology into a promotional interview for his new flick. His family should be absolutely embarrassed by the level to which he’s stooped.
I don’t care much about Hollywood entertainment, but I do care enough to ensure that people aren’t fleeced by this fake, cheap-shot Hollywood chump who ruined his legacy in one extremely stupid and unforgiving moment.
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