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The joke was out of line but Will Smith was much, much further out of line. He should have been booted from the premises.
But yeah, turning awards ceremonies into comedy roasts is a slightly risky move. I guess they are getting talked about, which is what they wanted.
This
So when he was irrational with rage he was also weighing up if rock would fight back?
I'm not sure how 'seeing red' works but I would have thought that considering the consequences isn't part of the process.
I think if they’re smaller, but like, hard as nails, for example Begbie or Jackie Chan, that’s allowed.
But what if they’re bigger, but in a non-threatening way, like John Candy or Stephen Merchant?
It’s so confusing.
If they punch you back then you're good.
If they don't then you're a bully and a scumbag. If you're going to attack someone make sure you pick your victim carefully.
Or just don't attack people.
Should have walked out with his Mrs, would have been a stronger thing to do.
I think you're right there.
Full clip here. WS looks a lot angrier after he's slapped him to be fair.
I think if they’re smaller, but like, hard as nails, for example Begbie or Jackie Chan, that’s allowed.
But what if they’re bigger, but in a non-threatening way, like John Candy or Stephen Merchant?
It’s so confusing.
It's OK, just post on this thread and Bruce will let you know if your plans are likely to breach his code of manliness.
🙂
So when he was irrational with rage he was also weighing up if rock would fight back?
I’m not sure how ‘seeing red’ works but I would have thought that considering the consequences isn’t part of the process.
If you think that was rage or being out of control, you've been in very different fights to me.
I don't know TBH, could be staged wasn't done well if it was though.
Chris Rock went past a "good taste boundary" the sort of joke that might be ok* from very close friends or family depending on circumstances, but he's not, and it's televised...
*(But probably wouldn't be really, we've probably all got an Oaf in the family)
Dunno what happened next, but for fullest effect, Smith should have left, taking your seat again after you've lamped someone and are pissed off, probably isn't that normal in most situations, unless you know you've got an award coming.
I think it's the fault of Ricky Gervais actually, he's spent the last few years "causing offence" with his Oscars blather and I think they believe they need to carry on in the same vein... Not that I watch it, does anyone? Millionaires giving each other awards for their successful business ventures? That's the kind of thing I would actively avoid from any other trade or profession...
Seems staged to me.
My initial reaction was I though Rock would come out of this better off, just standing there and taking it and not reacting. But now I wonder if a lot of people will just think what Smith did is bad, but understandable. Whereas what Rock did was just in poor taste and, inexcusably, not actually funny.
Whatever, just manufactured rich people dramas on the other side of the planet.
Here's a recent picture, am I safe?
The perfect solution would be for the Academy to retrospectively cancel Smith's award, either giving it to the runner-up or just leaving that year blank (a la Lance).
He may have had some justification for his actions, but he's still an annoying ****.
Could have just walked on to the stage and said it wasn't acceptable to make fun of his wife and got him to apologise. Would have made CR look stupid.
Now its about WS giving the apology.
I didnt even know it was Oscar night. Does anyone care about them these days anyhow?
No one seems to have mentioned that Will Smith was laughing at the joke before he decided he wasn't going to laugh at it.
This is also a man who is apparently happy for his wife to have multiple affairs.
It's very weird.
If you think that was rage or being out of control, you’ve been in very different fights to me.
Kebab house? 3am?
"Leave it Bruce! Eees not worf it?"
It’s OK, just post on this thread and Bruce will let you know if your plans are likely to breach his code of manliness.
Sure, let's focus on me rather than the fact that a significant number of people seem to think Smith's actions were somehow justified.
There is no situation where attacking someone is OK.
And yes, if it had ended up with Smith and Rock rolling around on the ground having a slap fight that would have been an outcome I could have gotten behind.
I didn't think the "joke" was anywhere near to warranting the reaction, wasn't funny either, but really it was a nothing comment that should have just been brushed off. IMO Smith comes out of this looking much worse than Chris Rock.
OK. So there's a bird onstage and she makes the joke. Will Smith gets up there and tw4ts her.
You bunch of sexist idiots. Of course it's not acceptable. Especially so "just" because it's a man.
Men are 24 times more likely to be a victim of physical assault than women. Twenty four times. And not because they were asking for it or involved in an argument beforehand.
Shame on those not condemning (not just "not condoning") for lacking basic enlightenment. If you're not condemning violence, you're in some way justifying it. And you're dead wrong.
It was a completely bonkers situation.
I don't really know the background to Jada Pinkett-Smith's illness but on the face of it, it seemed like a relatively light-hearted joke. On R4 the reporter was saying that Will Smith was actually laughing at it until he turned to his Wife & saw that she wasn't happy; which if true makes him a bit of a hypocrite to then go & whack Chris Rock in the face.
While I get that emotion can get the better of you, that's a pretty ballsy thing to do - literally get up on the stage in front of your peers & all the TV cameras & whack someone.
And as mentioned above - yeah, maybe the joke was in poor taste, but assaulting someone & then repeatedly swearing at them kinda loses you the moral high ground.
It's like a Hollywood high-brow version of "Oi, you spilt your pint on my bird"
And then he just sits back down & it all carries on - he still goes up to receive his award, talks about God, family & mad King Richard......and it's almost like he didn't just get up & assault someone. Rightly or wrongly standing up for his wife he still should have been kicked out of the ceremony, in my opinion.
He could have addressed the inappropriateness of that joke in his speech although it perhaps wouldn't have had quite the impact (ha ha) his alternative solution did, although he would probably have been seen as the 'bigger man'.
PS - it would have been much better if Jada had done it herself.
Kebab house? 3am?
“Leave it Bruce! Eees not worf it?”
That would never be you, would it binners? You'd be the guy jumping up and down with excitement going, 'Get him, hit him!!!'
Maybe you'd risk a quick kick in the ribs if you felt there was no danger to yourself but that would be it, wouldn't it?
Or, at least, that's the impression I'm getting of you from your enthusiasm for Smith's actions.
Some perspective might be in order here, eh?
He lost his rag and gave him a bit of a slap because he insulted his wife.
We're hardly talking GBH here, are we?
Could you give us a full run down of Bruces Rules of Masculinity? They appear to be a bit contradictory...
For God's sake Martin, buy that child a hat that fits.
Have we ever had an Oscars thread on here before?
I am going for staged and it's worked quite well.
As someone who doesn't follow celebrity news I didn't understand the joke and had to have it explained.
It turns out that apparently Smith's wife had previously talked about her non-life threatening condition in a very light-hearted manner.
The one thing I have picked up from the Oscars over the years is how difficult it is for many actors to suppress their emotions and put on an act when accepting an award. Which is strange as they are supposed to be the very best in business.
mad King Richard
Amazingly, the film is actually about the Williams sisters' dad, not the actual King Richard!
Never been in a fight thankfully. Being a big wuss has its advantages.
BTW - not that it makes any difference - Will Smith laughed at the joke - he thought it was funny, until he saw his wife.
He's fun to watch on screen, but lets face it, him and his scientology-loving family should get back in the pond.
(Edit: I doubt it was staged btw. I know the oscars are desparate for post-covid relevance but it'd be a hateful move to stage it. Add to that that Mr Smith has just handed white supremacists in the US a giant pile of ammo about how "black people" behave in the face of jokes, even if they're filthy rich and very privileged. You can see ramifications all over the place because of this. It's why footballers are given such grief about leading by example).
For God’s sake Martin, buy that child a hat that fits.
Not my child, fortunately, but if it were, that's fighting talk!
him and his scientology-loving family should get back in the pond.
He's going to have to drop a few hundred thousand on auditing after this one. He seems to have a significant body thetan issue.
Some perspective might be in order here, eh?
He lost his rag and gave him a bit of a slap because he insulted his wife.
We’re hardly talking GBH here, are we?
As normally happens, someone else made my point better than I did.
As @chevychase said, would you be saying the same thing if he went up and slapped Rebel Wilson?
Maybe you should give us a rundown of your rules of masculinity and who it's OK to assault?
Could you give us a full run down of Bruces Rules of Masculinity? They appear to be a bit contradictory…
It's pretty simple really. Don't assault anyone.
We’re hardly talking GBH here, are we?
No, but we are talking assault.
Well its about as far from a 3am scuffle in the kebab shop as you are likely to see.
On R4 the reporter was saying that Will Smith was actually laughing at it until he turned to his Wife & saw that she wasn’t happy; which if true makes him a bit of a hypocrite to then go & whack Chris Rock in the face.
He's definitely smiling until he spots his wife looking pretty distressed.
The audiences reaction is really strange, Will Smith sitting back down and swearing at Chris Rock seems to get a much bigger reaction than him walking on stage and smacking him in the mouth. But hey its America so violence is okay as long as you don't have a potty mouth.
I wasn't actually aware of the context of the joke until I read this thread. I'd assumed it was a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith not being nominated for any awards. If the joke is about her disability and the films she can't play in then its in very poor taste.
@Binners:
"We’re hardly talking GBH here, are we?"
No - we're talking common assault.
However, if it's OK to slap humans when you're having a hissy fit then maybe Sean Connery should have been given a bit more leeway eh? Someone should send a memo out.
It's never ok to hit someone who pisses you off. I learned this as a child, how come Smith hasn't?
I’d assumed it was a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith not being nominated for any awards.
Rock made that 'joke' at a previous oscars.
Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna's panties — I wasn't invited."
I think it’s the fault of Ricky Gervais actually, he’s spent the last few years “causing offence” with his Oscars blather and I think they believe they need to carry on in the same vein…
I am not a RG fan but the way he does it is perfection. Maximum insults but judged perfectly - doesn’t cross any lines. There’s a skill to it and I don’t think CR is that sort of comedian. Maybe if RG had said the same thing it may not have cause as much offence as it would be expected, but that’s not what you’d expect from someone else?
Comedy is always very finely balanced, and the best comedians practice a lot on smaller audiences and know when and where to deliver specific material. Sometimes it goes wrong and you misjudge things. I don’t think I’d be trying out any edgy roasts at the Oscars though, that seems prettt obvious.
The bully's and the scumbags are usually the people demeaning you, for theirs and others amusement.
I had a lot of that as a 11 year old small Irish kid at an english school - until i got much bigger.
Agree 100% @Molgrips. There's lots of apologism for him in the national press today "oooh, I lived through domestic violence, and everything about me is making up for the fact that my dad hit my mum"...
...lets give anyone who had a sh1tty childhood carte blanche to slap people about a bit. They clearly can't help themselves eh?
Boo hoo for them eh? They're incapable of not being violent, despite millions of people who had really bad childhoods proving that non-violence is definitely a thing that can be done.
Violence is rarely the right answer to a problem.
But until people learn what the boundaries for "humour" about other people's race, gender, sexuality, culture, disability and medical struggles are, then it is likely to be a risk idiots need to accept.
Smith and his wife walking out and him not being there to accept the award would have sent a much better message.
richmtb
The audiences reaction is really strange, Will Smith sitting back down and swearing at Chris Rock seems to get a much bigger reaction than him walking on stage and smacking him in the mouth. But hey its America so violence is okay as long as you don’t have a potty mouth.
I think the point at which Will Smith started swearing, was the point that most of the audience realised that it wasn't part of the act, hence the atmosphere in the room changing.
Half of the audience probably weren't even paying that much attention until the potty mouth at the front started using cuss words.
it was a joke. it may have been in poor taste and all that but it was ultimately a joke. i found it pretty funny tbh, the ones close to bone* are! (*pun intended, boom) The reaction was terrible judgement. thump him after the show, use your speech to belittle him, anything but make a massive tool of yourself in front of a global audience.
Fair play to Chris Rock though, for not reacting aggressively, maintaining his composure and for hardly budging when he was bitchslapped!
Its the cast and crew of King Richard i feel sorry for, and the Williams family - and the cast and crew of CODA who's triumph has been completely overshadowed.
Firstly, I think it was staged, it just looked like a stage slap, or maybe I just assumed it was? When I first read the headline I assumed it was an act.
Assuming it was real, I doubt, or hope Chris Rock isn't upset about it. Lots of Comics at the moment are shining a light on 'woke' or 'cancel' culture. Setting aside anyone's feelings on how real, or right that it, it goes against everything Comics believe. Chris Rock feels he should be free to express his comedy as way he wants to, if people laugh then it can't be wrong? Will Smith took personal offence, real offence, we're not talking about millions of armchair moral arbiters taking offence on their behalf, Will gave him a slap and told him off, Rock has to accept that, and he seemed to.
Obvs being 2022, the whole virtual world will have to decide which of them is best suited to them morally, well once they decide which camp their chosen celebrity have jumped into.
From the reports the Oscars were a pretty missable event:
- against the backdrop of a major conflict in which millions have been made homeless and tens of thousands killed…
- virtue signalling audience who have told us they are taking a stand against hate and violence take their seats to congratulate themselves for their amazing achievements
- “celebrity” host makes tasteless joke about someone else’s wife
- wife’s husband laughs at joke
- husband then punches the celebrity host presumably to avoid having to have a word with himself at laughing at it in heh first place or apologising to his wife
- audience “takes a stand” by giving a standing ovation to man who just assaulted someone else right in front of them
- lots of jibes at “republicans” and virtue signalling
- little or nothing said about evil communists or the tragedy unfolding in Europe
- Guests leave with their $140k “gift” bags
The bully’s and the scumbags are usually the people demeaning you, for theirs and others amusement.
And I've been on the receiving end of huge amounts of that. But again - I stopped hitting back when I realised it was the wrong thing to do on principle.
Ooh, that was quite shocking to watch! Thanks for posting.
I, personally can't put myself in the position of a married, multimillionaire celebrity having the mild piss taken out of them in a public ceremony. I mean if you're pushing your wife around Tesco in her wheelchair and some moron has a laugh at her, yeah smack that ****. But Will v Chris. That's (the) entertainment (business). Real punch/smack though, for definite.
I am not a RG fan but the way he does it is perfection. Maximum insults but judged perfectly – doesn’t cross any lines. There’s a skill to it and I don’t think CR is that sort of comedian. Maybe if RG had said the same thing it may not have cause as much offence as it would be expected, but that’s not what you’d expect from someone else?
I like Gervais as well, but he crosses a line all the time, it's how he's pushed boundaries and made a generation of copy cats, Chris Rock has also done the same, he's the US version who does all the roasts, awards, etc.
It was an off the cuff joke, following another joke he'd made about Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz regarding both of them being up for an award, i feel he brought Jada into the joke as it was a couples style thing, but maybe he has some history with her, there does seem to be a bit of it going by their marriage, affairs, etc.
I do enjoy a good Will Smith movie though, he's a great actor, but he just always seems to come across as never stopping acting when doing interviews and always wants to be seen in a good light.