Will smith crossed a line even before "the slap"

[unblock]

He committed one of the few cardinals sins an audience member can commit.

He disrupted a performance onstage.

Virtually all audience members learn at a young age not to ruin a performance for the rest of the audience. Professional actors not only know this even better, they also understand how important it is to the whole job of acting and putting on a show.

Some shows have a bit of audience interaction, and limited heckling is tolerated in comedy. But an audience member stepping onstage to disrupt a performance is a major no-no.

The whole story would have been much less dramatic had will smith merely "had words" with Chris Rock instead of assaulting him, but it still would have been way over the line.

For an actor, he committed professional malpractice even before the slap.

[FBaggins]

1. I wouldn't say so... for at least two reasons

First - if someone on stage calls out "Hey you in the third row! Is that your daughter with you or your pet? 'cause she is ug-lee!" - then the guy in the third row is now part of the show. There is no expectation that he sit quietly and take it. This wasn't "heckling" initiated by someone in the audience... it was an offense initiated by the performer.

More importantly - the Oscars aren't a "performance onstage" with an "audience" that purchased tickets to watch a show. There are more cameras on the "audience" because they are the show. They regularly come on stage and interact both with the presenters (not performers) and the rest of the crowd. As the chief nominee for one of the "big five" awards, he was very much a part of the performance rather than an "audience member". The very design of the "stage" shows it. There are seats several rows back that are clearly "audience"... but the first several rows/tables are very much a part of the show.

That doesn't make his response ok... but had he walked onstage and taken the microphone and rebutted the offense - nobody would have a second thought about the propriety of his coming onstage. The entire story would have been about Rock's inappropriate choice of targets for his "humor".

[honest.abe]

4. Exactly my take on this.

[luv2fly]

7. And only one of the two thus far has apologized for his behavior...

... and it wasn't the one who started it.

No one should ever make fun of how someone looks. Not ever.

[FBaggins]

10. Not yet unfortunately

While this would be a pretty classy response... it is reportedly fake. His team says that he has "not yet" issued a statement.

Hopefully... this implies that one is coming. Perhaps with better grammar.

[TheBlackAdder]

2. Is there a term for that, like "Doing a Yeezy," a "Kanye Swift," " Staging a Ye Ye" or something?

[eShirl]

3. security should have thrown him out

[Ziggysmom]

5. Smith is highly overrated as an actor IMHO

[BlackSkimmer]

6. Yeah, remembering what Kanye did still makes me cringe.

Too bad Taylor Swift didn’t slap him.

[we can do it]

8. Is this Entertainment Tonite?