Mocs News Reporting the news that matters most to UTC
By: Ryan M. Brooks Mocs News Writer
Actor-producer Will Smith slaps comedian Chris Rock on the 95th Oscar night just minutes before receiving The Academy Award for Best Actor. In his speech shortly after he quotes Denzel Washington’s words, “At your highest moment be careful, that’s when the devil will come for you.”
Will Smith’s laughter quickly turned into anger after Chris Rock made a joke about his wife Jada Smith’s hair. Jada had recently revealed her medical disease known as alopecia. This autoimmune disease causes hair loss which could affect just the scalp or the entire body and it has no cure.
The question everyone’s looking for is…. Did Rock know about her disease before making the joke? The answer is no. In an article by People, Rock’s brother Kenny Rock states, “If Chris had known he would not have made a joke about her hair at the Oscars,” (VanHoose 2022). After that furious slap of Will’s the Academy asked him to leave but Will didn’t. In fact, he stayed and also received his award.
Smith was faced with consequences that money can’t change. Will is banned from the academy’s events and programs for a period of 10 years. Smith says, “I was out of line and I was wrong,” in his apology to Chris Rock. He later states, “I accept and respect the Academy’s decisions.”
Chris has had a long history of trauma due to his childhood of racial disparity and bullying, in which he made light of by making his hit show of four seasons Everybody Hates Chris. Only one can imagine what Chris might’ve felt after taking that hit from Will Smith. Rock hasn’t come out publicly since the incident, but as he announced on CBS some time ago, he has been in therapy 7 hours a week since the pandemic that has helped him be a better person.
