On Sunday March 27, 2022, the 94th Academy Awards ceremony was well underway when the host, comedian Chris Rock, was assaulted by actor Will Smith. Rock had made a few playful jokes while presenting the award for best documentary feature film. Denzel Washington, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz were roasted without incident. But then Rock joked: “Jada, I love ya. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it.” He was referencing Will Smith’s wife’s shaved head, and a film for which Demi Moore shaved her head: G.I. Jane. It was then that Will Smith strode to the stage and struck Rock. When he returned to his seat, he shouted: “Keep my wife’s name out ya f***ing mouth” Rock maintained his composure, then addressed the audience: “Oh wow. Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me.” Then he addressed Smith directly: “Wow, dude, it’s a G.I. Jane joke.” Smith again shouted: “Keep my wife’s name out ya f***ing mouth.”
In the wake of that incident, a tidal wave of apologists rose to rationalize assaulting a comedian. Female comic Tiffany Haddish called the Smithslap “the most beautiful thing I’ve seen.” Singer Liam Payne chimed in: “I believe whatever he felt that he did, he had the right to do.” Guardian columnist Taya Bero wrote: “It’s clear that the backlash against Smith is rooted in not just anti-Blackness, but respectability politics as well.” Forbes Magazine’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion editor, Maia Hoskin, wrote in a column that the backlash against Smith “is about a much larger systemic issue rooted in white supremacist culture,” which she said has been “designed to police the behavior of Blacks amongst the who’s who in Hollywood and beyond.“ She continued: “Respectability politics suggest that equity and fair treatment require that Black people — both inside and outside of Hollywood — conduct themselves in a manner deemed acceptable to whites.” Fresh Prince of Bel-Air co-star Janet Hubert piled on: “There is only so much one can take… sometimes you have to slap back.”
Apologists were countered by several high-profile black celebs, including Wanda Sykes and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who condemned Smith’s behavior. Were they speaking from anti-blackness? Or were they speaking from conviction with respect to non-violence? Were those who refused to rationalize or excuse the slap modeling respectability politics? Or were they championing a most liberal value: the right to exercise the freedom of speech? Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took to Substack and penned an essay. “With a single petulant blow, he advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the entertainment industry, and perpetuated the stereotypes about the Black community.” If only Kareem were half as forthcoming regarding the diminishing of women and advocation of violence in Islamic scripture and jurisprudence.
Shameless star Shanola Hampton tweeted: “There is NEVER a justification for VIOLENCE! Never, ever, ever!”
Wanda Sykes appeared on Ellen DeGeneres’ show and stated: “It was sickening. It was absolutely — I physically felt ill, and I’m still a little traumatized by it,” Sykes said. “And for them to let [Smith] stay in that room and enjoy the rest of the show and accept his award, I was like, ‘How gross is this?’ This sends the wrong message. If you assault somebody, you get escorted out the building and that’s it. But for them to let him continue, I thought it was gross.”
Chris Rock literally took a hit for free speech. And he took it like a gentleman — with composure, dignity, and grace. In the 1960s, another comedian took several hits for the freedom of expression. His name was Lenny Bruce.
After years of rising in popularity on the nightclub circuit, Bruce also received increasing criticism. There were people who thought Lenny Bruce should be slapped into silence as well. There were people who thought they had the right to curb his speech, because they found it offensive. And so they did. Bruce was subjected to a string of arrests: In 1961, he was arrested in San Francisco. In 1962, he was arrested twice in Los Angeles and once in Chicago for violating California and Illinois obscenity laws (he beat the LA charges but was convicted in Chicago). In 1964, California authorities arrested him for a third time.
Bruce left LA and moved to New York, where his First Amendment rights would be violated even more thoroughly. On the nights of March 31 and April 1, 1964, the New York City District Attorney’s Office sent undercover investigators to two of Bruce’s Café Au Go-Go performances. During those performances, Lenny Bruce roasted many things, including the appearance of Eleanor Roosevelt. The NY District Attorney convened a grand jury and indicted Bruce for violating New York penal code 1140, a law criminalizing offensive speech.
Bruce was found guilty and sentenced to “four months in the workhouse.” In its final opinion, the court concluded that Bruce’s act “appealed to prurient interest,” was “patently offensive to the average person in the community,” and lacked “redeeming social importance.”
Those who rationalized and attempted to justify Will Smith’s conduct at the Oscars are cut from the same ideological cloth as those who engaged in the ruthless persecution and prosecution of Lenny Bruce. During the Lenny Bruce trial in New York, a group of artists, actors, comedians and authors including Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Bob Dylan, and many others penned a petition. It read:
Whether we regard Bruce as a moral spokesman or simply as an entertainer, we believe he should be allowed to perform free from censorship or harassment.”
And let us join them and say:
Whether we regard Chris Rock as a moral spokesman or simply as an entertainer, we believe he should be allowed to perform free from censorship or harassment…or violence.
Don McKellar says
The positive response from the reprehensible fascists on the left come down to, I believe, the fact that
a) Chris Rock not long ago refused to bow to the lgbqtwnnhbxyz++++ agenda.
b) Smith is an emasculated cuckhold whose “wife” humiliates and abuses him and sleeps with other men at will. This is the left’s new world order dream man. A cuck. And a cuck who obediently will jump up and humiliate himself in service of his domineering, abusive female partner deserves applause.
And then they take those two real motivations for applauding Smith and try and get as far away from them as possible by throwing down their race card. No matter how preposterous, no matter how convoluted, it’s a racist thing!
They really are that dysfunctional in their minds.
Naildriver says
I saw Jabbar’s remarks and found them too be ludicrous, in view of his treasonous and racist conversion to Islam ( Islam is very popular among resentful or criminal blacks these days; even if they don’t convert to it) ; and his persistent adherence with that enemy. It was either extreme stupidity; which is doubtful, or deliberate lying on islam’s behalf — where Jabbar never had to mention Mohammed’s excrement in his homily.
Geert Wilder’s of the Netherlands suggested that the Koran be banned owing to the fact it is ‘hate’ speech. I would concur.
Some things actually need to be done to address past evils, as with an American president, Obama, actually promoting islam, as he did in Egypt and elsewhere — certainly a better less injurious compromise than Affirmative Action.
Muslims themselves should be officially criticized by the government as belonging to an unfit organization, no less detrimental to our country than communists, KKK, or the Nazi — and removed from various positions of power. Pointedly denied numerous positions of employment from holding office to childcare
somehistory says
I find a lot of hip-hop/rap lyrics offensive. When I’m driving and the car next to me in traffic has the radio turned up as loud as it will go and the *booming* of the bass rattles my car and me, and the voice that comes along through the noise pollution is all about rape and killing cops and other disgusting stuff, I am greatly offended.
There are still laws on the books in Florida about “boom cars,” but they aren’t prosecuting any offenders due to the fact that some politicians want to be able to use boom cars to campaign.
There was a case a few years ago in Florida where a man at a convenience store was trying to get some young punks to turn down that sort of stuff and they refused, so he pulled out a gun and killed. He was arrested, tried and convicted. Killing is wrong, but so is slapping and the slapper had much less provocation than the shooter.
Freedom of expression only seems to go one way these days. If those who object belong to the wrong *group,* then their objections are wrong. But, if they are in the group having a say, then their freedom to speak is denied by the same people who allow these ones to be offended.
Many jokes are in poor taste. But so are the lies told to the public by those who pretend to represent the “People.” We can turn off the offensive jokes, but the lying pols, even not being heard, are still making the country a dangerous place to live.
and this entire “Black on Black” violence, esp in places such as Chicago. is ignored because Whites wrote most of the laws and many Blacks see themselves as above the laws of White people.
mozlums see this belief…of being above the laws…as a positive because they see themselves the same way.
Polite, law-abiding society is disintegrating.
tim gallagher says
It was disgraceful behaviour from Smith. The real problem is it crossed a line when the pathetic fool resorted to physical violence. Are they going to have other clowns punching it out up on stage at the awards ceremony. What a lack of self control Smith showed. He certainly has major issues with anger. I notice in news reports here in Australia that tickets for Chris Rock’s performances have gone way up in price, so the whole sickening incident may turn out well for him. Good for him if that is the case. Rock’s joke about Smith’s wife seemed pretty mild and harmless to me.
somehistory says
She can most likely afford to buy any number of wigs as opposed to shaving.
Dolly Parton wears wigs, but not due to having an auto-immune disorder. She really has brown hair, but her wigs are blond. I’ve never heard an unkind word or joke about that.
Perhaps the smith woman likes the attention that a bald head gets her.
tim gallagher says
Yeah, l have to say, somehistory, that I was bit surprised (on the TV news because I have never watched the Academy Awards ceremony and never would – it’s boring) to see Smith’s wife sitting up at the front of the crowd. If she really felt so terrible about having a bald head, maybe she could have, as you say, worn a wig or even just stayed at home. She must feel OK about her appearance and good for her if that’s the case. As for Smith’s way over the top reaction, it was pathetic and he needs to rein in his anger. Anyway, Chris Rock might do well out of it.
somehistory says
I’ve never watched either, Tim. as you say, it’s boring. Much like watching some company I never worked for, give bonuses to its best employees who already make the most money.
smith doesn’t seem to be embarrassed by her condition, what with all of the photos of her smiling being all over the internet. I had no idea who she was before all of this nonsense and violence…from a not-very-good actor …for what little I have seen of him. If I had watched him before, I would not now.
gravenimage says
Tim and Somehistory, I used to watch the Oscars regularly as a tribute to great film. Even a few years ago I’d usually find several films I really wanted to see if I had missed them at the theater.
But I haven’t watched for the last few years, because it got too grim and “politically correct”–politics became much more important in many cases than the quality of the film, and the idea that you might actually *enjoy* a movie has been almost entirely rejected.
The last few times I watched the Academy Awards I enjoyed them less and less. In many cases I had never even heard of many of the films–and not in most cases because they were underappreciated gems, but because almost no one actually wanted to watch them.
Very depressing–but lauding violence among the actors and hosts is an absolute new low.
tim gallagher says
I agree with your comment, somehistory. I enjoy watching films, gravenimage, as I guess almost everyone does. In recent years I have to say that I only really like to watch romantic comedies. Maybe I like to have my spirits raised a bit and there is too much grim news around. But I have never watched the awards shows. For me, it’s the same for music award shows. Never watch them. I have heard many commentators out here in Australia, on radio and TV, say how these days the award shows are terribly boring because you just get all these pampered movie stars lecturing all the average people about how they should save the planet and such stuff. Most of the commentators that I hear tend to say that, like you, they once used to watch the award shows sometimes but don’t bother anymore because they have become too boring. I agree with you about the physical violence. I was amazed that Smith would go up on stage and do what the did. Showed a real lack of self control.
somehistory says
tim, i once watched the country music awards because they would have some of the artists sing a best song or two and not much talking went on between handing out the awards. but in the past few years, too many poor singers have won and their songs are not to my liking. I still listen to country music on the radio, but I have to turn the sound down quite often due to poor work, and that kind of spoils it.
James Lincoln says
gravenimage,
Hollywood has gone woke, and it is definitely affecting the products coming out of the studios – especially the past several years.
In the past, Hollywood had its fair share of Democrats but they were mostly of the JFK type.
No more…now hard-core Leftists.
tim gallagher says
somehistory, a lot of the singers, songwriters and musicians that I like would be considered to be country artists, such as Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Guy Clark, Vince Gill, etc, but I have never watched awards shows of any type. I see the coverage on the TV news. I prefer to just listen to and watch performances on youtube these days. I’m usually singing along quietly with the performers that I watch. I keep getting plenty of ideas for songs so I continue to write plenty of songs. It is Saturday morning here in Australia and I just saw on the TV news that Smith has copped a 10 year ban, which I think is appropriate. I can’t believe the lack of self control he displayed.
gravenimage says
All true, James, Tim, and Somehistory. Good exchange.
James Lincoln says
If a muslima has a shaved head, does she still have to wear a hijab?
gravenimage says
Yep. Believe it or not, Imams have actually weighed in in this. You could still see the shape of the woman’s head–and maybe her ears… Haram! Haram!
James Lincoln says
I kinda thought so, gravenimage.
Thanks for confirming.
gravenimage says
This stupidity is all over the internet, James.
gravenimage says
Smithslapping the Freedom of Speech
………….
Good piece from Deborah Corso–and good cartoon by Bosch Fawstin.
I think this is the first piece here by Ms. Corso–welcome!
More:
Guardian columnist Taya Bero wrote: “It’s clear that the backlash against Smith is rooted in not just anti-Blackness, but respectability politics as well.”
………….
So if you aren’t applauding black-on-black violence, then you are “anti-Black”? And heaven forfend you should think that the Academy Awards should be respectable.
More:
Female comic Tiffany Haddish called the Smithslap “the most beautiful thing I’ve seen.” Singer Liam Payne chimed in: “I believe whatever he felt that he did, he had the right to do.”
………….
*Really*? What if Will Smith or anyone else in the audience at one of Tiffany Haddish’s shows felt he had the right to slap her? What it they decided they had the right to take it further, and instead felt they had the right to stab her, or cut off her head? After all, this is how many pious Muslims feel if they feel offended.
Is this *really* the kind of society we want to live in–one where the most violent thug decides what people may be allowed to say?
somehistory says
I just read a news piece about several girls arguing, one insulted the other’s grandmother; so the one whose gm was insulted, took out a gun and shot the other girl…killing her. Others were injured in the shooting.
who will be praising the shooter in this instance?
gravenimage says
Ugly, ugly stuff, Somehistory–but very much the same outlook.
James Lincoln says
So Leftists have normalized actual violence in order to resolve what should be a verbal dispute.
The violence is excused if it’s:
Black on black.
Black on white.
But not…
White on black.
gravenimage says
Grimly true, James. I have noted before that if Andrew Garfield or Benedict Cumberbatch (both fellow nominees for Best Male Actor and both white men) had slapped Chris Rock around that there would be no “debate” about this. They would be roundly condemned as not just thugs but as racists, even if it had nothing to do with race. Of course, these actors are too civilized to have acted like this in the first place.