Article originally published March 28, 2022 and updated March 9, 2023
Almost a year ago, the 2022 Oscars were held on the night of March 27, 2022 at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, to great fanfare.
Amazement in the room: when actor Chris Rock came to present the Oscar for best documentary, Will Smith, disgusted by a bad joke about alopecia from his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, hit him.
Will Smith beats Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars
In 2018, actress Jada Pinkett Smith revealed to the world that she suffers from alopecia, a condition that accelerates hair loss. Since then she wears her head shaved, and proudly wears it on all the red carpets where she comes to proclaim the fruits of her labor or that of her husband: Will Smith.
A clearly sensitive subject for the 50-year-old actress and her husband. So when actor Chris Rock, in charge of presenting the Oscar for best documentary film, joked about Jada’s skull, he picked up on Will Smith’s anger and violence.
” Jada, I love you, can’t wait to see GI Jane 2”: this is the valve that Chris Rock dared to give to Jada Pinkett Smith, thus comparing her physique to that of Demi Moore in the film GI Janeby Ridley Scott.
A joke whose aftermath soon came to the stage in the form of an angry Will Smith, who purely and simply gave Chris Rock a huge slap in the face.
While the actor, who was clearly stunned but had to continue the show, said “I just got a fucking slap from Will Smith”cried the latter, from his seat” Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth. »
If the assembly could initially believe in a (bizarre) staging when Will Smith entered the scene, the actor’s words confirmed the very real dimension of the moment.
Later in the ceremony, and after discussions with Tyler Perry and Denzel Washington, Will Smith won the Best Actor Oscar and took the stage to collect his trophy in tears.
“When you’re an actor, you have to deal with the fact that some of you don’t respect that. […] Denzel told me a few minutes ago that when you’re at the top, that’s where the devil comes for you. I want to apologize to the Academy, to all my co-applicants. »
As the crowd cheers, Will Smith apologizes, but not to the principal concerned. He also specified “Love makes you do crazy things », passing off his gesture as an excess of gallantry.
Chris Rock and the misogynist
If various media underline the embarrassing dimension of this television moment, we would tend to qualify it as serious. Indeed, there is no reason for one individual to hit anotherbefore excusing his violence with the argument of love.
Recall that he mentioned Chris Rock’s penchant for, like many black male comedians, using black women as punchlines in his sketches, regularly mocking their appearance, and especially their hair, in outings that are as misogynistic as they are colourist. This dripping with misogynistic humor, a vector of psychological abuse against black women often downplayed by white feminists, has brought Chris Rock laughs, recognition and success over the years.
We can also note that it is not the first time that Chris Rock has attacked Jada Pinkett Smith on the stage of the Oscars: he had already faced her in 2016, when the actress and her husband boycotted the ceremony to denounce its lack of diversity.
Finally, it is also ironic that the comedian produced in 2009 Beautiful hair, a documentary about… the discrimination surrounding the hair of black people. You can’t make it up.
Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
