Would it be OK for Smith to smack a woman for telling the same joke ?! REALLY PEOPLE !?

[uponit7771]

I ... DO NOT ... believe even the tacit support for initiating violence HERE ON DU because of something as SMALL as a tasteless joke from a comedian !!

SMITH LAUGHED AT THE JOKE IN THE BEGINNING.

Ricky Gervacis has been WORSE and front row people get roasted on the Oscars and they all KNOW THIS.

BTW: NO ONE on any open forum site has showed were Rock KNEW of Jada's condition

Jus fuckin wow

[Walleye]

1. If Smith is such a bad ass why doesn't he clock Senator Hawley or Cruz

They were insulting Judge Jackson so bad. So it would’ve been OK for her husband to come up and smack a senator? Not that I’m against it

[uponit7771]

2. +1, right !? they've done WAY more damage than a tasteless joke

[Srkdqltr]

4. Smith wasn't there. I wanted to smack them.

[Bucky]

12. I think you're deliberately coming up with a bad take on this

You might as well write "If Will Smith is so opposed to bullying, why isn't he in Ukraine killing Russians right now?"

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. For the analogy to be precise he would have to go to Ukraine to slap them.

[Bucky]

20. 😄😆🤪

I think that Sean Penn's job

[11 Bravo]

84. And he would also have to be married to Judge Jackson.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

85. Chris shouldn't have insulted his wife and Will shouldn't have slapped him.

I don't get the outcry for the latter's head on a platter. If they weren't celebrities most folks would just brush it off. I started a a thread where I stated that I live in Los Angeles County. If I called the police and told them I was at a party and I insulted a man's wife and he slapped me I doubt the police would pursue it vigorously, especially when there were no injuries.

[hlthe2b]

3. Who is defending Smith's assault? I see those here exploring the multiple issues surrounding this

incident, as well as a few mansplaining how Pinkett Smith, whose balding is due to an autoimmune condition, alopecia areata, "had no reason to feel insulted or embarrassed."

Defending Smith's assault? No, I don't think so, though many are trying to understand what triggered such an inappropriate (and highly public) response from Smith to what was likely a clueless joke gone bad.

BTW, Smith's laughing earlier is because seconds before Rock's joke, he had made a simple joke about Smith, and like most celebs in the audience called out in such a way he was still "primed to receive" such jokes in a nonreactive jovial manner. It was when he saw the reaction Pinkett Smith had that his demeanor changed (for the worse and inappropriately, mind you).

[uponit7771]

30. I used word ... tacit

[obamanut2012]

40. Lots of folks are

It is assault and battery, period.

[RDJackson]

5. I heard

He wasn’t upset at the rehearsal, so I wonder if Will warned him about using that joke and, he did it anyway, which might explain the strained laughter before he whacked Chris

[uponit7771]

32. +1,It's not true that's Smiths PR tryna get out in front of this cause people saw him laugh at first

... until he saw Jada's reaction.

Smith has been called to stop simping to Jada who cheated on him, there's more behind that story

[LizBeth]

6. Maybe you have to have a lifetime of listening to men go to the appearance shaming

easy laugh at the expense of women.

[Effete Snob]

15. Or a lifetime of men using violence to express their hurt feelings

[uponit7771]

33. +1,

[Sympthsical]

25. God knows men have never had jokes made about their appearance.

It just doesn't happen! And at the hands of comedians? Unheard of!

(I am thoroughly enjoying the internet's wholehearted embrace of completely goofy this morning)

[uponit7771]

35. THIS !!!! ☝🏾☝🏾☝🏾 Putin initiated stupid thin violence against 44m people but striking someone ...

... for a tasteless joke? ah ... that's ok to some

[Johnny2X2X]

7. Might doesn't make right

Will Smith is a bully, he went on stage and attacked an older man who is much smaller than himself. Smith has at least 40 pounds on Rock, I doubt Smith would have thought he could do that if it was a much larger person.

[Srkdqltr]

13. Rock was in the wrong. Smith slapped him. Man to man.

Shaming others is never right. Standing up to bullying the only way.

[Johnny2X2X]

21. So rock would have been right to KO Smith

Smith thinks it's OK to put his hands on other people because he and his wife were offended, does that make it OK if Rock would have wound up and knocked him out cold with a lucky punch? Man to man? How about if he kicked him a few times after he was out? Man to man? Just to teach him a lesson. How about if Chris Rock had grabbed a mic stand and split Will Smith's head open with it man to man? Maybe he gouged his eye out man to man?

What if it had been Dwayne The Rock Johnson, instead of Chris Rock who made the joke? Will Smith going to man to man him too? Doubtful, but Will Smith has 40+ pounds on Chris Rock, so he thought he'd play the tough guy.

People acting like it's OK to assault someone in public when they say something you don't like are really losing me. Will Smith didn't behave like a man, he behaved like a child.

[Srkdqltr]

28. That's a thought.

[uponit7771]

51. ***THANK YOU!*** I grew up in the hood and slapping someone like that and walking off would've

... been a HELL TO THE NAW.

[Johnny2X2X]

55. Especially in public like that

Chris Rock has a wife and kids too, he just got slapped in front of hundreds of millions of people. What about his pride? What about his kids wondering why daddy got hit on stage for something he said? There's people who get killed for less.

But Will Smith knew who he was hitting, he knew Rock is tiny and would likely be too shocked to strike him back. So who's the bully here?

[uponit7771]

58. THIS !! If it was Wayne Johnson there would've been no smack at all

[DemocratSinceBirth]

71. He slapped him. He didn't pummel him.

I don't countenance the slap but I can understand the motivation. If Smith pummeled him my reaction would be different. I am of the opinion that the slap was disproportionate. If Smith pummeled him I would say the reaction was grossly disproportionate and worthy of punishment. In the current instance I'm satisfied with the societal outrage.

[Johnny2X2X]

74. So Rock should have slapped him back?

What level of violence do you sanction in response?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

75. I don't sanction any violence. Just distinguishing between a slapping and a pummeling.

If Rock slapped him back that would have been further escalation and made a bad situation worse

[choie]

62. are you kidding?

"Man to Man" - What bullshit toxic masculinity. Shaming is bad, but hitting somebody is not acceptable.

[uponit7771]

68. +1, ... and 1997 Demi Moore was fine as hell !!! How was that an insult !??!

[2fast4u]

76. 96/97

Is when the show went off the air and he married Smith. And last night I learned she’s a Scientologist. Hmm.

[FreeState]

91. Smith is a hypocrite

https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/tqq5e7/will_smith_making_fun_of_arsenio_halls_band/

Will Smith making fun of Arsenio Hall’s band member who had alopecia & telling the audience it’s just a joke.

[Ms. Toad]

26. They are 4 years apart in age.

Neither is over 60 - so, by today's standards they are middle aged (or even in the prime of their lives)

That's hardly attacking an "older man."

(I am not justifying what Smith did - just pointing out inappropriate framing.

[Srkdqltr]

8. And to the OP point. None of the women made that "joke" Rock did.

Maybe they would have. Women do this to. I know a few people I have wanted to slap for that type of "joke".

[Effete Snob]

16. .

[Srkdqltr]

18. Um this was a roast. That was the point.

Different time different place.

[Effete Snob]

19. No, it was the press dinner

Huckabee was not there for a roast.

[Srkdqltr]

24. Than the comedian should not have gone there. Just as wrong as Rock.

The fact that she wasn't slapped dosen't make what Smith did right or wrong.

[Bucky]

27. That president is specifically famous for being a roast

They invited a political comedian to do a speech. The point of events like this is for people to show they can take a joke about themselves.

By comparison, Hollywood award night galas are being self-congratulatory. Of course some celebrity riffing goes on. But obviously comedy based on laughing it other peoples' travails has its limits. Chris Rock just discovered one

[uponit7771]

36. +1, its KNOWN front row seaters get roasted at the Oscars

[Nevilledog]

9. What's your take if Jada was the one to slap him?

[Srkdqltr]

14. Good on her.

[obamanut2012]

43. It is assault and battery, not "good onher"

wtf is wrong with people here.

[uponit7771]

37. STILL not justified, like Putrid has learned you DO NOT initiate violence unless you can see it

... all the way to the end.

There's no proof Rock knew of her condition

[Nevilledog]

45. There's no proof he didn't know.

Works both ways,

[Bucky]

10. Chris Rock is a comedian. It's his job to know these things.

He's in the celebrity business. Hollywood people read about each other's problems and travails all the time. They have publicists to put out information about their medical conditions as part of their PR work. Knowing that stuff and using it for entertainment is the basis for the work Chris Rock does.

It's not like he came up with that joke on the spot. He has a writing staff developing the material and trying it out on each other. These awards events, including the jokes, are planned far in advance.

Someone in the room, probably everybody in that room, knew about her condition and collectively decided that was a safe riff on a well-known celebrity. They calculated wrong and Rock, the front man, took the blow back.

Now it's over and done with. The fact that we're still talking about it means it was a very successful joke.

[GemDigger]

34. He has used Jada for multiple jokes over multiple years. When would someone get away

with using your spouse as a punchline? Would you stand up for him or her or would you be a silent?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

11. He didn't slap a woman, so...?

[uponit7771]

38. Great, I'll take it that as even tacitly slapping someone for a tasteless joke was dumb

[WhiskeyGrinder]

54. Not sure what you're saying here, but tbc I don't have a problem with what Will Smith did.

[pnwmom]

93. It wasn't just a tasteless joke. It was cruel and ableist.

It was a healthy, good looking man making fun of a woman with a physical condition that has caused her emotional pain.

[uponit7771]

65. Most women would LOVE to be compared to Dem Moore in 97, she STILL looked good as hell !! WTF?!

[uponit7771]

78. I don't see the insult in regards to looks, from what I've read Rock didn't know about the disease

I would give my left middle toe to look like the male version of Demi Moore in GI Jane

[Raine]

23. A more equal comparison would be a woman slapping another woman

across the face. 🤔

[miyazaki]

29. Smith is the ultimate joke now. He'll be skewered till the end of time.

Comedians are afraid of nothing.

[catsudon]

53. yep

Rebel Wilson is lucky Will Wasn’t at the BAFTAs.

Her joke was worse.

"Personally I thought his best performance in the past year has been being ok with all of his wife’s boyfriends".

[uponit7771]

61. +1,

[GemDigger]

31. It was not rocks first time using a man's wife as a joke to get laughs.

Not classy, not funny. If someone was talking about my husband or wife I would do the same damn thing.

Small would be not defending your wife.

[uponit7771]

41. You've never been shot at and don't understand how QUCKLY stupid shit like battery for a tasteless

... joke can escalate into someone being shot.

Now tell me how someone being shot is an overaction to seeing Smiths overreaction

[GemDigger]

87. First, you don't know whether I have or not been shot at and that is really stretching it a bit.

What does being shot at have to do with Will Smith defending his wife. He didn't pull out a gun hell, he didn't even use a fist. He slapped him across the face. ROCK HAS DONE THIS BEFORE. It is not the first time he has made fun of Jada and picking on her auto immune disease if pretty damn low.

If you can tell me who shot who because of Will Smith slapping rock, then I will give that comment more thought.

[LudwigPastorius]

80. You know how you defend her, though?

You walk up to Rock, pull him aside and tell him to apologize to your wife right then and there, and that if he doesn't THEN you will slap the shit out of him.

Smith was laughing at the joke until he saw his wife's reaction to it. To me, his assault reeked more of "I better do something, so everyone will think I'm a tough guy", rather than genuine anger at the affront to his wife.

[Sympthsical]

86. A man's wife?

Jada Pinkett Smith is her own person. She is a successful actress in her own right.

It's so weird seeing how many ostensibly liberal, pro-women people constantly reducing Jada to merely Will's wife in all this.

The woman has her own person and agency. She can be addressed independently of her husband. She may act independently of him as well.

[obamanut2012]

39. It is assault and battery, and the man has anger issues

He ruined his Oscar moment, and talk about the Streisand Effect.

He should be arrested and banned from the Academy Awards.

[uponit7771]

46. +1,"Will Smith literally just immortalized a joke that everyone would've forgotten twenty seconds"

[Polybius]

42. Of course it wouldn't be ok

You don't hit women.

[LexVegas]

44. Regina Hall made fun of their sham marriage earlier in the broadcast. No one got slapped.

[uponit7771]

47. RIGHT ?!?!?

[LexVegas]

50. Smith is a punk and I think it just reached a breaking point with him.

Jada's been punking his ass for years.

He laughed at the joke until he saw her reaction. If Rock made a joke about Will, Jada would have been rolling in the aisles.

[uponit7771]

57. YES !!! After reading WTF they done to each other he seemed like he was outing it in public.

If Rock made a joke about Will, Jada would have been rolling in the aisles.

Oh damn ... yeah, I just read about that and saw how heart breaking it was to him.

Smith from a YOUNG age wanted a wife I know that for a fact he was wanting to get married early in life and that "red table" talk looked heartbreaking

[2fast4u]

67. Old school fan

I was a fan back in 87. “Girls of the world ain’t nothing but trouble” and “Nightmare on my street”.

But after the TV show, around the time of MIB, it seemed like he became a thin skinned arrogant jerk.

That was on full display for all last night.

[uponit7771]

70. +1, ... and 1997 Demi Moore was fine as hell !!! How was that an insult !??! I'm looking at pictures

... of her now I would give my left middle toe to look like that !!!

[eissa]

48. I wonder if Smith would have behaved so boorishly

if it were Billy Crystal, Ricky Gervais, or David Letterman who made that joke? All three roasted their audiences during award telecasts and never got assaulted.

[uponit7771]

59. +1, or Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

[BlackSkimmer]

49. Thank you.

K and r.

How about if Rock had joked about Nicole Kidman? What if Keith Urban had slapped Rock.

Ooh, DU would be in a very different tizzy altogether.

[uponit7771]

63. +1, Smith smacked an American comedian the jokes on this will flow for a generation or two ...

... if he feels insulted now he aint seen shit.

[ripcord]

52. I didn't consider Rock' comments to be funny in any way

Comedy doesn't mean being an aashole.

[Bettie]

56. I finally heard the joke on the radio

Considering that it is entirely possible that Rock didn't know about the condition, it was a comment on a hairstyle in reference to an old movie. It wasn't a vicious attack.

Hosts of events comment on the high and mighty people who are there. Every single time. And yes, those sitting in the front rows know that there will be comments made about them. It shouldn't have been a surprise.

There was zero reason to become violent about it.

[uponit7771]

60. +1, I don't remember Demi Moore looking ugly in GI Jane either. She was bad ass heroin

[CrackityJones75]

64. BuT it WaS a WomAn!!!!!

Pretty fucking amazing the latent sexism and excuse for violence because of it on display in this forum.


Honestly you can go to any podunk shit town bar and watch the same shit over and over agin.

[liberal_mama]

66. As a woman with hair loss myself, I would have been mortified. Did Chris Rock know that Jada had

a medical condition that caused her to lose her hair? If so, he owes her an apology. I still don't think that Will Smith should have assaulted Chris Rock, but I don't think people realize how traumatic it is for a woman to lose her hair.

[uponit7771]

69. No, from what I've seen so far Rock didn't know. Lets say he did, 1997 Demi Moore was FINE AS HELL

... and if she was ugly enough to be an insult then Hollywood has some VERY unreasonable expectations of women.

[ForgedCrank]

72. Of course

not. Men hitting women is unacceptable with the exception of primary defense without another option. Otherwise, men don't do such things for obvious reasons.
Maybe I'm a bit dated in my thinking, but that's how I see it.

[uponit7771]

73. I'm looking at 1997 Demi Moore and wondering how in the HELL was CR joke an insult ?!!?

[ecstatic]

82. Yeah, it is weird. Will was wrong. Period.

I'm disappointed in him. I hope he gets the therapy he needs (and maybe finds the strength to get divorced if necessary).

[uponit7771]

83. Yeah, I've seen some of the Red Table talks and he looked hurt. He was even laughing at the joke

... at first until he saw Jada roll her eyes.

There's NO DOUBT something toxic going on and it looked like it manifested during the oscars

[Diablo del sol]

88. You must be person with HS degree and is a tRump supporter

Because that is what I saw earlier in a thread.

Seriously, fucking seriously.

[uponit7771]

90. ad homs are an indicator of a weak position and so is avoiding the question at hand

[lame54]

89. Jus fuckin who gives a shit...

It's being dismissed because it's meaningless

Save your outrage for something real

[pnwmom]

92. I don't care that Smith first laughed. The implication of the joke --

that Jada would play a GI -- didn't immediately sink in.

Only after a moment did Smith realize that the joke was a dig at his bald wife. Otherwise there would have been no reason to suggest Jada should play GI Jane.

Smith was wrong to react by slapping him. But Rock was wrong, too -- and caused harm to the many viewers listening who have the same medical condition as Jada.

And only Smith has apologized.