Will Smith punches Chris Rock at the Oscars

Jim Carrey I think summed it up best (starts at 3:59 and ends at 6:01):


He's especially right about this overshadowing the hard work people put in to win the awards. I've seen almost nothing in the news about who won that night; not even the coveted "Best Picture" winner. Encanto won Best Animated Picture (which is usually the case for Disney movies but still) and I didn't even know until I saw it on Disney's own Instagram account the next day. I know many will say that award shows like these don't matter anymore but it has to suck for the people that worked hard on these films.

Will definitely has some kind of mental health problem and he needs to step back and get help.

THAT'S WHAT EVERYONE THOUGHT AT FIRST

Is It axiomatic that there's somehow a "high probability" that Chris Rock knew?

I'd say there's a strong probability Chris Rock did NOT know. His reaction after the slap very much suggests so as you can see he gestures "I don't know" to someone by way of facial expressions:



There's been indications through an anonymous friend of Chris Rock's that he didn't know:

www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/chris-rock-jada-pinkett-smith-alopecia-will-smith-b2049487.html#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16490790382369&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.co.uk%2Farts-entertainment%2Ffilms%2Fnews%2Fchris-rock-jada-pinkett-smith-alopecia-will-smith-b2049487.html

You said more than a "high probability" thing about Chris Rock. You called him a bully.

And yet it was Will Smith who:

1) broke Californian law

2) brought the Oscars into disrepute

3) overshadowed the winner Chris Rock was presenting Best Documentary award to as well as everyone else

The law does NOT stipulate that its self-defence or a reasonably proportionate course of action to slap someone for a wee joke.

In fact, there's a California jury instruction that states:



And it was a very small joke. It clearly and obviously wasn't intended to offend - this is very clear by how Chris Rock behaved in the minutes afterwards.

Rock even said to Will Smith, "oh, I could....." and lets it trail off, but it was obvious he was about to say he could have made a much, much worse one than that. Yet he didn't.

The joke was about having a haircut that's like G.I Jane's, but not about hair loss. There's an important distinction there.

Well before the Oscars Jada herself said, "Now, at this point, I can only laugh," in regards to her alopecia. She made quite a few jokes about it.

Rock's jokes were on the same level as her own jokes. Very mild and gentle ribbing. Nothing more.

Rock's behaviour does not fit the label of "bully" here.

But Will Smith's certainly does fit the "bully" label. He's very lucky that Chris Rock didn't want the Oscars to remove him from the venue and he's very lucky he doesn't want to press charges against him.

That said, Smith's career has been hurt to some degree by all of this whereas Rock's tour ticket sales shot up at least 25%. I personally have got into Chris Rock's comedy and I love irreverent comedy. Kevin Hart and Dave Chappelle are another two.

As for Will Smith resigning from the Academy, at this point it looks more like damage limitation rather than a genuine act. He cannot escape the fact he was happy with himself afterwards or the fact he was trying to justify it.

Including by comparing himself to Richard Williams. The real Richard Williams said, "...we don’t condone anyone hitting anyone else unless it’s in self-defense.”

As we know, there's no way Will Smith can legitimately use the self-defence card here. The law is very clear on that.

Now, Will Smith is being roasted all around the world. Including at the recent Grammy Awards.

This situation was avoidable. In fact, Will would have emerged from it better if he'd had a quiet word with Chris Rock on stage. In that scenario, Rock would've likely been the one on the backfoot.

Will Smith was completely in the wrong. End of. Whatever is going on in his personal life, and it seems clear its been a mess with these "entanglements" for a long time, he has no right to hit anyone.

I've no doubt Will would not have hit Chris Rock if Chris was a big man as well. Will is significantly taller and that does make a big difference in confrontations.

Will banned for 10 years from Oscars.

Horrible how one stupid moment of madness can kill a career.

Richard Gere was banned from the Oscars for 20 years, I believe. And he didn't slap anyone!

I always liked Will Smith and enjoyed most of his films, but I just can't feel sorry for him. He didn't need to slap Chris Rock. At the end of the day, Will Smith will continue to live a very privileged life and, I'm sure, will make more films again at some point.

Mind you, Richard Gere believes Hollywood torpedoed his career due to the influence of Chinese investors.

Gerbil and it was false too.

https:///fact-check/richard-gere-gerbil/

i'm kind of new here so i don't know everyone well but has pg13 always been detached because if so. that's probably why i don't get along with this user. they never response to my message months ago etc.

so i don't know if they doing this on purpose or they simply don't understand me.

pg13 if you see this message plese response to me in messages in the future because i'm gonna be honest sometimes i don't understand you and somethings you say kind of make me think i don't have the words but yeah. i'm gonna start talking to you though messages. cause you confuse me.