Will Smith’s slappening

By now you’ve  seen the slap heard around the world.. after a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, will smith took it upon himself to go to the stage at the Academy Awards and slap Chris Rock across the face. Rock, stunned by the strange attack, did a “show must go on“ moment and presented ..

There’s been a lot of debate about this moment, and a lot of back-and-forth opinions based off of whether Will Smith was just defending his wife’s honor or if it was a crime that went to far..

During his acceptance speech for best actor, will Smith even went on to say some strange things, referencing that God has given him the moment he’s in now, and that the devil strikes when you’re at your highest. It seem to be a rolling stream of conscious, he said sorry to the Academy for his actions, but took about a day and a half to say sorry to Chris rock for the slap. And that was through social media, so does it count anyway?! 

The Los Angeles Police Department initially said that Chris rock declined to press charges against Smith.

In dealing with Hollywood news coverage, it’s fair to acknowledge that in the immediate aftermath of this slap, many people believed it was staged anyway. Maybe something akin to the Andy Kaufman versus Jerry Lawler moment back on David Letterman in the 1980s.

But all evidence points to this moment being truly one of the most realistic, and genuine moments in academy award history. Perhaps not one of the high points, but at least authentic. That’s surprising for Hollywood standards.

But it makes us wonder if violence against comedians will now be condoned, I know I know that sounds to be a little superfluous. But just think about it, if Will Smith was defending his wife’s honor in the face of a G.I. Jane joke, what if someone else in America decides that a comedian has gone too far? What if someone else in small town rural Midwestern cities begins to think, “that comedian is hurting me with those words“. 

And in this world of blurred lines, one must wonder if some think it would’ve been OK for Chris Rock’s family to strike back against Will Smith. What of Chris Rock son said “I’m going to defend my father‘s honor “?

You kind of see how this goes right? Those blurred lines now become moments that have no consequence.

That’s kind of the norm now right? January 6 riders of the capital go mostly unpunished. Politicians and businessman for many many decades have had their crimes exonerated, or they just move on and don’t care. Scandals involving celebrities in high profile members of society come and go like a summer breeze, ushering in only a few moments of revulsion while the Internet moves on to something else that has a better meme a day later.  Riots in several cities for years lead to burn structures and graffiti filled streets, and most of the political world spoke out in favor of the rioters at a time. Looking back, perhaps not the wisest of moves.

And just now, in recent history, Vladimir Putin and Russia invade Ukraine. There are tens of thousands dead, and the body count is piling up.  

And maybe it’s unfair to equate all these massive world events .. after all, the Academy Awards are mostly unwatched batch of celebrities giving awards to themselves for movies that most of the world has not even watched.

But this moment in time, this slap, seems to represent a social fabric breakdown. A disorder in the force, something where the norms of once forgotten times have gone, and new chaotic norms are coming in, freely disabling our common sense and ruining our ways of life.