RiverDog wrote:To be honest, I never have, and never will, watch the Oscars. I have about as much interest in watching the Oscars as I do the World Series of Poker.
But from the clips, it's obvious that Smith was way out of line. Having been involved in one or two incidents like that over my lifetime, you handle those situations in the alley or on the railroad tracks, one-on-one. Smith should have just gotten up, said 'If you have the balls, I'll meet you outside" or something like that, and walked out.
Aseahawkfan wrote:Will's stock is so high at this point, no one will notice after a short time. Hopefully he controls his temper in the future. Not a good look for Will. Very surprising.
I-5 wrote:I think this will probably colour public perception of Will Smith for the rest of his career. Nothing that violent has ever happened on live TV that I can think, so if it starts a bad trend then he will be even more remembered for it. I think it's clear he has more demons than a simple bad joke would have elicited such an extreme response, not to mention the verbal abuse after the slap. I hope he is getting help.
I-5 wrote:I think this will probably colour public perception of Will Smith for the rest of his career. Nothing that violent has ever happened on live TV that I can think, so if it starts a bad trend then he will be even more remembered for it. I think it's clear he has more demons than a simple bad joke would have elicited such an extreme response, not to mention the verbal abuse after the slap. I hope he is getting help.
Aseahawkfan wrote:I don't believe this at all. Striking others in the workplace between celebrities was far more common when I was growing up. There are legendary tales of Bill Murray's drunken violence and he's had an amazing career. Sean Penn used to get real violent earlier in his career and he's done fine. Will will have to take some lumps as the world has changed substantially from when I grew up when two men could have an altercation and people would shrug. But there's far worse than what Will did in the world and especially in Hollyweird. This is kind of small potatoes in the overall scheme of things.
As far as how people see it, I think you will be quite surprised how many women think what Will did was noble and how many men just don't care. Women tend not to publicly support such actions for fear of repercussions, but women like seeing a man stand up for his wife. Will is a tall, good looking wealthy man. He's gonna be fine.
Now if he were caught up in the Metoo# scandal or slapped a woman, be a different matter. But a man slapping another man is not gonna rate much even on national television. Chris Rock is the only guy to really make Will pay badly if he felt like it as that lawsuit or any charges would be easy to file.
Aseahawkfan wrote:I don't believe this at all. Striking others in the workplace between celebrities was far more common when I was growing up. There are legendary tales of Bill Murray's drunken violence and he's had an amazing career. Sean Penn used to get real violent earlier in his career and he's done fine. Will will have to take some lumps as the world has changed substantially from when I grew up when two men could have an altercation and people would shrug. But there's far worse than what Will did in the world and especially in Hollyweird. This is kind of small potatoes in the overall scheme of things.
As far as how people see it, I think you will be quite surprised how many women think what Will did was noble and how many men just don't care. Women tend not to publicly support such actions for fear of repercussions, but women like seeing a man stand up for his wife. Will is a tall, good looking wealthy man. He's gonna be fine.
Now if he were caught up in the Metoo# scandal or slapped a woman, be a different matter. But a man slapping another man is not gonna rate much even on national television. Chris Rock is the only guy to really make Will pay badly if he felt like it as that lawsuit or any charges would be easy to file.
RiverDog wrote:I'm with ASF on this one. Although I personally don't approve of Smith's behavior and certainly if this would have happened in the workplace Smith would have been fired on the spot, I think there's going to be a mixed opinion. I've already heard a lot of women on my Facebook feed express their admiration for a man that was willing to defend his woman. There was a sort of chivalry to the act that appeals to some, but by no means all, women, that they like to be fought over. It makes some of them feel that they are so damn sexy and desirable that men are willing to fight over them. Some of the men won't give a rip.
I've also heard from the other extreme, that Smith ought to be arrested for assault and battery, which to me, is laughable. At best, this is a misdemeanor crime that might yield a couple hundred dollar fine and no time in jail, and we're going to clog the court system up with that?
I-5 wrote:You're making my point. None of that was on live TV. I know some women think it was noble, but there is nothing noble about what happened..neither the joke (which was not that crazy), and definitely not the slap, as well as the Academy doing absolutely nothing about it, and moreover letting him make a speech a few minutes later. It normalized a level of violence we haven't seen in this kind of setting. If Will Smith got that worked up about a joke that Jada has told about herself in the past, what would he be like at a real roast, like when Don Rickles was around? Those were much MUCH rougher. That's what the Oscar telecast is, a mini roast. Chris was tame; imagine if it had been Ricky Gervais hosting.
The funny thing is, Jada looked absolutely gorgeous with her shaved head, and Chris Rock even acknowledged it, so I don't think it was that bad of a slight....it just makes the reaction of Will seem so out of proportion. Especially considering he seemed to enjoy it at first.
I-5 wrote:There is no need to settle anything out of court, because Chris being the cooler head declined to even press charges, even though he has grounds to. He let it go.
I’ve been a fan of Will Smith for a long time, and I realize this was one incident. I’m convinced it was coming from a place deep inside that for whatever reason, that joke triggered a LOT. He’s clearly in some kind of state in his life. I hope for the best for him.
Aseahawkfan wrote:What about when you were younger, RD? If a guy smacked another guy back when you were about 30, do you fire him?
Aseahawkfan wrote:I've seen people in the workplace get in fights when younger and you just end it and get everyone back in their place. But I know in the modern day there is more to worry about with lawsuits, so people tend to fire someone due to the legal repercussions. Men settling things with fists was much more common when I was growing up. Now it's out of fashion.
I-5 wrote:There is no need to settle anything out of court, because Chris being the cooler head declined to even press charges, even though he has grounds to. He let it go.
I’ve been a fan of Will Smith for a long time, and I realize this was one incident. I’m convinced it was coming from a place deep inside that for whatever reason, that joke triggered a LOT. He’s clearly in some kind of state in his life. I hope for the best for him.
RiverDog wrote:Chris Rock doesn't have a leg to stand on should he have opted to take legal action. He didn't suffer any significant injuries, wasn't in fear of his life or further bodily harm, there was no deadly weapon involved, nor did he lose any pay or property damage due to the incident. Outside of emotional trauma, there were no damages he could cite in a lawsuit. It was a misdemeanor assault, which is why the cops won't pursue it unless there's a complaint, and even if Rock did file a complaint, the worse Smith would have suffered would have been a couple hundred dollar fine and it would have gone on his record. The only possible way Rock could have sued is if his career was interfered with by the incident. Heck, he'll probably make tens of millions by writing a book and have a movie made about it.
Chris Rock may have wanted to press charges, but a good lawyer likely would have talked him out of it, so I'm not going to automatically credit him with being a cooler head. Besides, pursuing it could have done more harm to his career than good, as there's a lot of people that would perceive him as a crying little wimp. There's already a percentage of people, mostly men, that feel that a real man wouldn't have taken that and would have responded right then and there. Let's ask CBob what he would have done.
Although I think Will Smith was out of line and deserves some sort of discipline from the controlling authority, I also think that the incident was blown way out of proportion.
I-5 wrote:To be perfectly clear, at no point did Chris Rock ever say he wanted to press charges or even considered. In fact, it was his friend Will Packer who was backstage with him along with someone from the LAPD who asked him if he wanted to press charges, and Chris emphatically said no..repeatedly according to Packer. He wanted no part of anything to do with pressing charges. Not only that, at his comedy show in Boston a couple days later, someone in the audience started shouting 'F__ Will Smith' and Rock put a stop to that right away. Pure class from this guy.
For anyone out there that even thinks this might have been staged, the look on Chris' face immediately after it happened when he had to continue with the award for Best Documentary betrays how confused and uncertain he feels. Pretty sad if you ask me. No way that joke warranted this.
https://www.tiktok.com/@ethiopian_girl_101/video/7080989760851856683?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&q=chris%20rock%20look%20at%20his%20face&t=1648848788458
I-5 wrote:Lets be completely honest, if Will Smith hadnt gone up and physically assaulted Rock, would you even remember the joke that he told, or was it the slap that made you notice it? Since when is physical assault justified because someone didnt like something that was said and got their feelings hurt? According to the laws we have, that is illegal. Of all the jokes we’ve heard at live award shows, I dont even think this rises to the level of insult. What exactly is the problem that is so outrageous about the joke? GI Jane is a good movie and Demi Moore was great in it and looked gorgeous with a shaved head. If Jada was offered the part, would she accept it or do you think she would be offended? It’s the outrage about the tame joke that I find outrageous if anything.
And since when do women need to be physically protected from a comedian’s joke? Did Jada really need that to happen?
NorthHawk wrote:To steal and paraphrase an old line:
I went to an Awards Show and a Hockey game broke out.
I like movies like everyone else, but what are actors?
They are pretenders. They pretend to be someone or something other than themselves. Just a larger scale version of 6 year olds in a fantasy land play group.
So these awards shows boil down to who is the best pretender? Oh, there are 4 people nominated as pretending the best - and the best pretender of the year
goes to John Doe.
I don't watch awards shows...
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