I think you’ve misunderstood. Harvey Weinstein raped and assaulted possibly hundreds of women. But Will Smith assaulted a man. Clearly this is is a different level of seriousness.
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Oooh of course. My bad. I apologise. 
Seriously though; it’s been really interesting seeing how different groups have reacted to this. I have seen more nuance and discussion from female led spaces and more immediate condemnation from male spaces. It must be something to do with socialisation but I can’t put my finger on it.
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Nobody stopped Kanye that time either…
Well, Kayne is a gay fish anyway 
They’d have wrestled a fan to the floor but nobody would expect what happened. It’s never happened before. People come up on stage with others and even uninvited, they’re all celebs, they do what they want.
I’d agree with you about it being staged if it wasn’t for the outburst when he sat back down. If he sat down laughing about it then maybe, but Will Smith has always been a very clean cut actor, he isn’t swearing like that as part of a skit.
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There isn’t going to be any security of that kind at the front of stage, everyone present is invited so it’s a safe environment.
It’s not like the Brit Awards where an audience of the public is mingling with the celebs.
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Ah another storm in a teacup, imagine getting rattled by a few words
Easy to say when the words aren’t aimed at you. Chris took a public swing at a potentially traumatic/upsetting medical condition. Which was low and nasty.
As I said before both men sucked equally. I hope Jada is ok today, she’s the one that actually matters in all this.
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Will Smith physically assaulted somebody who he knew wouldn’t retaliate. Coward.
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I’m still on team will, we all make mistakes. Emotions always run high in awards ceremonies, plus personally Americans are a little more “hyper” than us more reserved British. I would have waited till after the awards for that jumped up squirt Chris and pummeled him away from the 50 million watching.
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I’m on team Will too. People make mistakes, and Will has owned up to the assault and apologised. He doesn’t need to be cancelled because of it. It is an emotional topic for some people.
As a teacher I have known children and adults with Alopecia. A girl a few years back in my class went from having thick shoulder length hair, to it falling out part by part leaving her hair bald in parts and shoulder length in others. It took a huge toll on her, refusing to come into school, wanting to hide her head when she did come. Her mental health deteriorated, however much school and home tried to support her, including self harming. She was 7 at the time. It is something that should not have been joked about and people need to be educated on the topic.
Chris has got off pretty much scott free with the comment because of Will’s actions. Thats the saddening outcome of the incident, not that Chris got a slap.
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Last time they didn’t sit in the audience, Chris Rock made a joke about them. So this argument doesn’t stand.
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Not sure about any other incident, but this time they were in an audience, watching a comedian.
They were attending an awards ceremony. Not going to watch a comedian.
There’s a lot of underlying animosity between Chris Rock & Will Smith, you can’t (in my opinion!) take this event in isolation when it’s been provoked over the years.
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It’s not really splitting hairs to point out they went to an awards ceremony where he was nominated for an award, that in no way invites or excuses someone to abuse them.
Maybe if they turned up at a Chris Rock comedy gig that’d be different but that’s not what they were there for. People shouldn’t have to choose between collecting awards and not having abuse thrown at your family.
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Really interesting to read everyone’s take on this.
Personally I think it was totally out of line for Will Smith to assault Chris Rock but what blows my mind even more is how everyone in the room just moved on like it was no big deal. Probably some variant of the bystander effect, combined with confusion around whether it was a bit and admiration for Will Smith.
I also think the offensiveness of the joke is irrelevant and a bit of a red herring. Given the context, I don’t think any joke could warrant physical assault. Especially not one about someone’s likeness to GI Jane…
There were a thousand ways Will Smith could have made it clear that he wasn’t happy with the joke that didn’t need to include smacking Chris in the face.
Imagine an alternative universe where Will walked up to Chris, went to smack him in the jaw and stopped at the last moment causing Chris to flinch, followed by Will calmly saying that the joke about his wife was not appropriate then returning to his seat. This would have caused the same air of ambiguity over whether its a bit and whether Will really meant it etc, while still making it clear to Chris that the joke was not ok. Plus this discourse that followed would be purely about the appropriateness of the joke. Hey that may have even been Will’s intent but clearly the moment got the better of him.
I’ve always enjoyed Will Smith’s films and found him charismatic and likable but I think he has permanently tarnished my opinion of him.
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I’m shocked so many people don’t understand why jokes about someone’s Alopecia are deeply offensive. Even Chris Rock didn’t seem to get it.
Maybe consider how that joke makes someone who has lost their hair, when that was an important part of their identity as a black female, feel? A bit of empathy shouldn’t be difficult.
I’ve also no idea what is funny about making someone feel bad.
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“Jada, I love ya. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see it!”
Personally I think it’s a pretty tame joke. Obviously I can’t speak to how offensive others might find it, but there are clearly significantly more egregious ways the joke could have been said. But my point was that regardless of how offensive a joke is, it doesn’t warrant physical assault. So it’s a red herring and a distraction from the seriousness of physically assaulting a host during an award show.
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Why can’t you? All you have to do is read about what the condition means to her and others. Listening to people and understanding what they feel and why, it’s not particularly difficult.
I don’t think what Will did was right, but I also think what Chris Rock did was extremely wrong. Maybe not as wrong as Will Smiths reaction but one bad thing happening doesn’t mean other bad things are suddenly not important.
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Rock, apparently, did not know about the alopecia. If true, it’s still a bad joke and ill-considered, but it wasn’t a deliberate low blow.