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Your thoughts on the viral moment at the Academy Awards will depend on whether you think it was spontaneous or fake.
What got people talking has nothing to do with which actors and films snagged which awards, or about what actress looked the best or the most ridiculous in whatever they spent a king’s ransom to wear on the red carpet.
What really got people talking was Will Smith interrupting Chris Rock’s monologue to smack him in the face.
Here’s the video (uncensored) so you can judge for yourself what’s going on in it.
The Full Uncensored video of Will Smith’s altercation with Chris Rock at the #Oscars pic.twitter.com/cGQ3plSEiz
— Movies (@moreoffilms) March 28, 2022
There are some comics with a reputation for playing it safe and keeping the jokes as inoffensive to their audience as they can… which is why so many late-night TV guys spent roughly four years without telling any jokes with a punchline not about Donald Trump.
Chris is not a play-it-safe comic. He took a swing at Jada Pinkett’s hairstyle, saying he looked forward to G.I. Jane 2.
It was a roast, but pretty harmless compared to some of his material.
Will Smith seemed to laugh at first. Jada did not. (Did that have something to do with it?) Then Will walked up onto the stage and slapped him across the face and marched back to his seat.
Chris Rock stood there, took the hit, and kept going almost as if nothing ever happened. He didn’t even duck or take a step back.
Was it real?
Well, there was plenty of motive to fake something like that. Here’s the biggest one:
Nobody cares about the Academy Awards anymore. If the drama hadn’t happened, this writer wouldn’t have even noticed that they were being given out. And he seemed to laugh at the joke at first — even if Jada didn’t.
But that petulant wounded look on his face after he sat down again was pretty convincing.
Wouldn’t you love to know what one-liner Rock pulled his punch on after that slap. Can you imagine if he’s taken a shot at her dress, too?
One social media account quipped: If Smith is that pissed in March, can you imagine how upset he’d be in August?
(And if there’s anybody Smith would have reasonable justification to take a swing at…)
Ultimately, no charges were pressed and Will gave a half-assed apology for his behavior later in the show while accepting his award.
What do you think? Was the slap authentic? Or was it done to generate buzz?
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