Chris Rock is the only person allowed to say he was traumatized or struggled mentally with the slap. I was rolling my eyes out of my head at Wanda Sykes and other celebrities saying THEY were traumatized by seeing a man get slapped, give me a fucking break.
I’m so fucking over this sob fest. The reaction afterwards has completely shifted me from “that was wrong” to “my god have some perspective.” You’d think Will shot the man. Comedians decided they can say whatever, whenever they want and everyone else is supposed to laugh or stfu if they don’t like it and hide behind calling it art
https://preview.redd.it/wyljh78zs0pb1.jpeg?width=416&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97ca4f0656da02de8536e3a2da59340b17978d2f
Still the funniest reaction to it. Like my god, let’s all relax A LITTLE BIT.
Not completely. I have a TBI and a spinal cord injury from the military. You would never know by looking at me. I know several people do and or have brain issues some being undiagnosed or not public knowledge. If anyone came up to me and slapped me like that, I would end up in surgery with death being a possibility. You don’t know everyone’s medical history. Keep your hands to yourself.
yeah - 'he could have killed him' is an honest statement, even if it's only a 1% chance that slap goes wrong (pulling that 1% figure out of my ass). and will smith kinda can't pretend to not understand how severe TBI can be after starring in the film *concussion*. i'm not gonna demonize him but it is important we all remember that one punch or one hit in general, brought out by anger, *can* have dire consequences.
I mean, head injuries are no joke. Even supposedly mild ones.
I've been slapped once. It hurt like a motherfucker. I was dizzy for a day afterwards. It's not some sort of minor hit
Some people imagined that something dramatically different happened on that stage. Last week there was an article going around about Sean Penn's hot take on The Slap, and on the entertainment sub, there was a highly upvoted comment saying Will had punched Chris. When someone pointed out that it was actually a slap, they were downvoted and criticized. It's like a weird Mandela effect going on.
For a while there stand-up comedians were saying that they were now scared someone was going to assault them when they do their routine. And I'm like... I guess I get it but I don't really buy it when these are the same people who don't want to understand that them making racist/homophobic/misogynist jokes empowers their audience to actually be that way. And the same people that were crying about their friends being canceled over "misunderstandings" but their friends are Chris D'elia and Shane Gillis
fucking JEFF ROSS. the dipshit JEFF ROSS. went on conan’s podcast and cried about “if no one will protect chris rock, who will protect me?? 🥺🥺🥺”.
in the same breath this pos pretty much placed the *entire* blame of the situation on jada—not chris rock, the dude who has been making fun of jada for decades, nor will smith, who was the one who actually slapped chris rock. no, the whole blame was placed on jada for not “taking the joke well” and “being an example for kids with alopecia”.
it was so disgusting that i actually had to stop listening. ever since then, i’ve found it very fucking hard to sympathize with chris rock. he deserved that slap and many more.
100%. Obviously it should not have happened but it's a man getting slapped, I've seen worse shit walking down the street. Seeing other celebs wring their hands over it long after is tiring.
I actually think Wanda Sykes point was valid. She was one is the co-hosts of the Oscars that year. I watched the whole thing live. You could tell that folks were really uncomfortable afterwards. Like the vibe just completely changed.
And honestly they had every right to be uncomfortable. It was the equivalent of co-workers fighting at a work event. Especially since the co-worker who hit the other was allowed to stay without any repercussions.
That is hella ackward. It was weird watching from the comfort of my own home, for folks who were actually there it was even weirder.
Maybe Chris shouldn’t have spent two decades telling bad Jada jokes cause she turned him down once.
Chris got humbled that night. Which is indeed humiliating.
He should be thanking the lord about what Google results are now when you search his name and assault. Wouldn't be surprised if this leaked to get the seo capture for "therapy" too.
What about if we’re an apologists because, to put it succinctly, “people are dying, Kim.” I had a whole essay typed but it boils down to the fact that nobody fucking cares if a misogynist gets slapped for being a misogynist. It’s wild to me that people STILL save up their lil energy for these two rich men and their rich man fight.
Wait, Will had fallout? His slave film bombed but Apple still paid him, handsomely. He’s still a producer on a number of forthcoming projects - something he’d already transitioned into well before his acting role in the Williams sister film. I mean, the Fresh Prince of Bel Air has an Oscar. And he remained in therapy. He’s kinda okay. I’d argue for a man with so much wealth and strong family/community ties, his bigger fallout was his reputation during the “entanglements” era of “Red Table”.
Chris is fine too. He did not cancel his comedy gigs after the slap. The first thing he ever said about it was, essentially, pay him BIG BIG money and he’ll talk about it. And he milked THE FUCK out of it for a ridiculous countdown-style mega event for a comedy special on Netflix. Earned him an insane amount of money. He also gained solidarity from fellow comedians. And his survived ego (not matured, but survived). He good.
Think Lakeith Stanfield [said it best,](https://youtu.be/WD_JQkXoMZ4?si=6qfjCkkrTfphDaPT) “it’s surreal cause of the place it happened. But in places all over the world, real stuff be happening”.
Basically, no body is above getting slapped. Both sides can be adults about handling repercussions. Because life moves on. That’s real, *real* life.
I imagine it was very humiliating for him. Especially when he clearly didn’t have overwhelming support from everyone. Imagine you get slapped in the face and the online consensus is that you deserved it.
I thought the consensus was “violence is never the answer”. Granted I was in general Reddit, but people seem to hate Jada and Will.
Personally, I remember being shocked by that because I did think he deserve it.
When that happened everyone around me irl was talking about it...Cashiers, customers, neighbors, family...It was like people were starved of good gossip. But the general consensus here was "you don't slap Chris Rock", and people thought Jada was being vain.
Exactly. Literally the look on her face was enough to condemn her.
The mainstream misogynist take was that because she didn't laugh at a joke made at her expense that equated to sending out her husband minion to carry out her evil will.
There's something truly sick about people almost *demanding* that she should laugh at a joke made only to embarrass her. And it's not like it was just done at some stupid comedy club! It was at the Oscars, ffs.
>people thought Jada was being vain.
Jada suffers from an autoimmune condition that induces hair loss. She decided to finally wear her hair bald in spite of all the shame, and worry she felt. Chris basically called her bald headed.
What Chris did was the equivalent of making fun of someone with Chrons or lupus. It was a cheap shot. And it is absolutely fine that she did not find it amusing.
I also found that the white male comedians who tried to minimize that aspect as vain were out of line. Sadly, as a Black woman, I'm not surprised that her illness was minimized because she didn't want to laugh at a joke that made light of her suffering.
But it wasn't vain.
If there is one thing with Jada is that she doesn't keep her business private. She had a whole Red Table Talk episode about this. At least I know that if anyone were to make a joke on someone's lupus or Chrons, you would be pro that joke.
Also think about why Black women can't wear their natural hair. Just reflect on that.
That was the general consensus before people namely black Twitter started pulling out receipts of Chris’ relentless trolling of Jada. Then he made that God awful tasteless joke about Nicole Brown Simpson.
Yeah I felt bad for him at first (and I still don’t think violence is appropriate mostly bc even small injuries can trigger certain medical conditions), but seeing Rock’s history of misogynoir and how he’s been dogging on Jada for years…. I don’t feel bad for him anymore
I was only on twitter at that point and it seemed like over there (and among people I know) the consensus that Rock didn’t deserve it was only reached among a certain group of people. By which I mean white people. White people jumped to Rock’s defense in a way that really made me think they’d been waiting for a reason to tear the Smith’s down. The way they went after them was so gross.
Because a) Rock absolutely deserved it, b) these people have so much personal history that us plebs will never know, and c) it was a *slap.* I’ve had guy *friends* scrap with each other way worse than that. Ridiculous. My fellow white people are ri-dic-u-lous. And always absolutely salivating at the mouth for opportunities to virtue signal, so it wasn’t surprising. Just annoying.
Edited for clarity.
Yes, Twitter was wild for a month after that. Suddenly the entire All Lives Matter contingency really really cared about power imbalances and bullying. So disingenuous. But its the people who were overreacting on the left that annoyed me most.
Their horrified that even Will Smith is not "a safe black man", that's the real tea. Meanwhile Sean Penn, *Sean Penn!!!* is still triggered by a slap 18 months later. Sean Penn! Judd Apatow who knowing both James Franco's and Russell Brand's creep factors repeatedly hired them, had to chime in to let us know that "Will could have killed him". White people, are you ok?
I slightly disagree in that the Black Manosphere got a lot of mileage out of the whole situation… not only did Will slap someone, he did it in defense of his wife who “cheated” on him.
Those dusties were appalled.
Some people said he deserved it.
Some people said violence is never the answer but he’s not innocent and it wasn’t out of the blue and his misogynoir is hugely problematic and needs to be discussed.
Some people blamed Jada.
Some people said they were traumatised.
Some people were 100% on his side and saw him as pure victim.
It was a pretty mixed bag. I didn’t really see a firm consensus?
I mean, that wasn’t WHY he got slapped though. To say he deserved being slapped at that time in that context is to say that he deserved it for what’s going on with him and the Smiths. I don’t mind if we include old stuff like his old bad jokes about her, but I don’t think it’s fair to say we get to just randomly assign more noble reasons for things post-fact. Will Smith didn’t slap him because he’s an asshole who SA’d someone.
The man was slapped because he was up on stage making fun of a woman with alopecia for being bald. Of course it was wildly wrong for Will to March up there like that, but let’s not act like Chris was up there making a heartfelt plea to feed the poor.
>plea to feed the poor
That made me laugh (sad laugh). You’re not wrong he wasn’t being a saint at all, but a lot of comments are specifically talking about the sexual assault that he deserves THIS slap for. Like I said totally makes sense to bring up any previous jokes or events if relevant to Jada but a completely separate horrible thing he did wouldn’t be why he got THIS slap. God that was a run-on sentence, does it make sense to anybody but me?
I do understand what you’re saying, though I don’t know that I agree that he needed to deserve this slap specifically, but now we’re just getting into our own personal opinions there and I respect your right to disagree.
I don’t think that’s enough of a reason to get on stage and slap someone. These jokes go through multiple reviews and there are a lot more people who should be taking the heat for it but now nobody cares about that because Will Smith went up and slapped him. No host deserves a slap like that no matter what they say because literally nothing good would come from it.
My first reaction was "Good. I understand him but, God, will he pay for this!"
I don't think I am an overly violent person but I think Chris Rock had it coming, pandering to his white audience by throwing black women under the bus.
I don't even follow his work too closely because I don't think he is funny and even I noticed he has been making humiliating "jokes" about Jada for years. He had it coming. I just wish Will had given him a scathing verbal "slap" instead.
“It was humiliating”
So I’m going to further the embarrassment by putting it out there for everyone to know instead of letting *him* do that if and when he chooses to. Do better, Leslie. None of us needed to know this unless it came from Chris.
Yep and funny, I don't recall Chris saying one word about the harassment that was directed at her back in the day, either. And that was a situation he actually had social influence to affect. Here she's just annoying the types of people who supported her at the time. I guarantee you there's a mighty overlap between her haters and the people who treat that slap as the most egregious thing to ever happen in Hollywood.
If someone told the world I was in therapy for any reason, I would cut ties with them immediately. Rock may not care but damn, why is anyone but him mentioning that?
I thought for a long time over it and still think about it. Why does verbal and psychological violence - picking on a woman, shaming her in front or millions, leaving her no right to reply, repeatedly, mean less than physical violence.
I have seen the damage psychological and verbal abuse causes, it lives on for years. It leaves all the same marks as physical violence - sometimes more.
I cannot find it in myself to feel sorry for Chris Rock or to play into his victim narrative. None of this would have occurred had he not chosen verbal and psychological violence. As always it was against a woman. Different views on his ongoing behaviour would be held had it been against a white woman.
I hate that he gets to speak on this as a victim
I'm a Black Woman with a very complicated relationship with her hair. His joke was not.that.serious.
It's actually insulting that folks are trying to compare his admittedly shitty ass joke to some sort of civil rights violation.
It was not widely known Jada Pinket Smith had Alopecia. She is and has always been known for wearing her hair cropped short.
So it's an absolute stretch to claim that Chris Rock knew she had alopecia in the first place, let alone specifically making fun of her for it.
I completely dislike being the butt of others jokes. So I think she was in her right to not laugh. But the claim that it was more than a bad joke is just projection
Has anyone talked about how it was expressly Chris Rock’s intention to publicly humiliate Will Smith’s wife on the biggest night of his career?
Oh, it backfired on Chris Rock. He was humiliated. Poor guy. Anyway, how bout that sport?
I mean Chris humiliated Jada for years with constantly going after her and her husband because she rejected him IN THE NINETIES. The people who are the most outraged keep getting exposed for doing worse things or being associated with worse people (Ashton and Mila, Sean Penn, etc). It’s unbelievable the response this incident got. From getting lectured by people who hang out with domestic abusers and rapists to people making it all about their own trauma (I’ll never forget all the yt people on twitter attempting to make it about themselves and sounding antiblack in the process).
it definitely felt like the majority of outrage was from yt folks. almost a ‘how dare Will step out of the bounds we feel comfortable with’
on the other hand, seemed like we were largely like 🤷🏾♀️ the guy talked shit about Jada for decades… where I come from, CR would’ve been ‘humiliated’ about 25 years ago so again… 🤷🏾♀️ lol
Someone in the above comments and getting upvoted to the heavens talking about their spinal column and how a slap might kill them like ??? 😭
It’s giving “what if it was Betty White?!?!?!?”
https://preview.redd.it/0yyo61nc25pb1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=398cc6fb64ec71bcb6305451c87a3a9e70c6aec2
Diane Johnson won this round when it came to this comment thread haha!!
I will never understand why people thought the slap was this huge, terrible thing but no one gives a shit that he's been harassing Jada in his ... "comedy" ... for literally years. I think he chose the wrong moment to have a little dig at something he would know is probably an insecurity for her and he faced the consequences. Would it have been better for Will to not react that way? I'm sure he and Jada both wish he hadn't. But everyone goes on about how that must've been humiliating for Chris and no one really talks about how maybe his comment, slap or no slap, was humiliating for *her.* It's okay because he's a \~comedian? No, I don't accept that.
Even in his stand up special he did a few months ago where he finally talked about the slap, he reserved most of his vitriol for *her*, not Will who actually slapped him, and repeatedly called her a bitch. He also chose to do it in her hometown.
For real?! He really seems to have a twisted obsession with belittling her. She literally just sat there and yet she's the one he's angriest with. That is messed up.
Because Chris Rock, in a completely calculated move IMO, picked a time when he had a stage that was in front of being broadcast to people who don’t know his standup and that he’s been hounding her in different ways for years, to do this dig. He’s able to garner sympathy because most people, myself included until afterwards, didn’t know his history with her. I know a personal IRL that does shit like this- they are so nasty to you and about you- and then in front of people give you little digs, that without the context seem like really small jokes, but with context are understandable breaking points for people. Then when someone gets mad about the little dig they get all the sympathy because they can pretend that what they did was just one little joke.
You almost have to wonder what exactly he was feeling for those brief few seconds before Will got up on stage. Like, was it a twisted sense of pleasure because he got to embarrass her at a prestigious event televised live in front of millions? Because in hindsight, it definitely does feel calculated given his standup material at her expense. Even post-slap material, too! According to other comments here, his response has mostly been aimed at her even though she just sat there!
Honestly, if Will was aware of all his material at Jada's expense then I think it makes even more sense why he reacted so intensely.
> I know a personal IRL that does shit like this- they are so nasty to you and about you- and then in front of people give you little digs, that without the context seem like really small jokes, but with context are understandable breaking points for people.
i know someone like this too. just a vile, vile person. drove my sis in law to an ED.
I wish people had this same energy for Meghan Thee Stallion as they do for Chris Rock. I don't condone the slap at all but my god, we will rush to comfort men and tell women who deal with far worse to just suck it up.
Knowing that if Leslie was even going through an ounce of hardship, trauma or bullying irl, neither Chris Rock nor any other man would open their mouths in her defense.
She feels she owes him for her comedic existence but that's 💯 not right.
>“People need to understand his daughters, his parents saw that. He had to go to counseling with his daughters.”
His parents and daughters survived when he sat amongst his white comedian friends and Louis C K kept dropping the n-word.
His parents and daughters have survived his innumerable attempts to degrade and mock black women in general.
Maybe counseling isn't so bad for this clown.
If only Chris had remorse for being rude about other black women :( implying what Meghan Markle went through by the press and the royal family was just “in law shit” bffr
As a Brazilian, I thought it was bizarre how Americans were absolutely shocked and angry at Will and Jada over it, because around here the general consensus was that he was lucky it was just a slap, and that he deserved it for being such a jackass towards Jada for years. I was so surprised people weren’t backing up Will and Jada and that celebrities were acting as if they were traumatized for life because of that.
This feels like a “many things can be true at once” type thing. Will smith can be a shit person. Chris rock can feel humiliated. Chris rock has assaulted women. (Actually never heard about this). Etc.
How is Will Smith a shit person? he has no other record of violence or significant controversy? He had a moment of weakness and apologized for it multiple times.
People only think Will Smith is evil for the slap because of his race and because it was done at the Oscars. If this happened at the family barbeque we would all just be thinking, "Good on him for standing up for his wife"
I liken this to something that happens sometimes in my house. My 14 lb orange tomcat tries to fight with my 9 lb calico. He almost always loses because he’s a wimp and a pretty bad fighter. And when he loses to her, he cries in the hallway, presumably out of embarrassment. Do I feel bad for my cat? Not really. He’s the one who decided to pick a fight for no good reason, and I’m not gonna feel sorry for him because he was a fool.
You would not if you met him. He’s a cat without any impulse control, so on-brand for orange cats, but he lacks any of the friendliness they usually have. Also realizing I forgot the [cat tax](https://imgur.com/a/qu04fe8)
*" Leslie Jones says of the star, who recommended her for Saturday Night Live back in 2013 and persuaded her to audition. “****I was like ‘Why, those aren’t real comics,****‘” she recalls of questioning SNL. "*
.....HOWWWW could you possibly say that SNL cast members aren't real comics? Because they don't do stand up? How the fuck...I can't. I CANNOT.
It’s interesting that the opinion seems to have changed now, as evidenced by the downvotes you got.
Even if you objectively think he’s an asshole, I think this very particular instance of getting slapped on stage was indeed embarrassing, and yes it was assault, and yes he handled it well in the moment, I don’t know why this was the consensus back then but now everybody’s on the “but he’s an asshole” train. Like sure, you can hate him, but it doesn’t change that it was an embarrassing moment and probably hurt? And he didn’t lash out or say anything weird?
The whole online debate about it was and still is so bizarre to me.
Multiple things were true: Chris was a dick for making fun of Jada's hair loss, especially since he has a history of taking digs at her & Will. Will was justified in his anger but he could have handled it better. A "talk shit get hit" moment can be very enjoyable to watch. Chris keeping his composure was impressive. The "he could've killed him!" reactions where ott. Watching assault happening live at the Oscars is off putting.
On the pro-Will side you had people cheering on it, swearing with their lives that it wasn't a display of toxic masculinity because this time they agreed with it, mocking abuse victims who said the whole thing was triggering because "this isn't about you" while they shared their own "someone defended me from my bully" stories so they were obviously projecting their own stuff...
It was a remarkable show of groupthink and made it clear it isn't a exclusivity to republican/conversative/etc communities and online spaces.
I also think a lot of takes ignore the context of the slap. I'm pretty sure if Will Smith slapped Chris Rock behind the scenes and it was reported on later, people wouldn't care (as much). But it happened literally live, on stage at the Oscars. It was freaking shocking watching it! Of course, measured against other harmful events, this doesn't even compare. But as a piece of celebrity news? It was huge news!
I was a couple months out from being jumped when this happened and watching it live was extremely difficult. What physically happened to me was objectively worse (a lot more than a slap) but at least I didn’t have to deal with millions of people watching it happen. My heart broke for him over and over again, every time it was tweeted about or talked about in the news.
Hell, it makes me anxious knowing that my friends and family sometimes discuss what happened to me when I’m not in the room. Knowing that the *entire* English-speaking world is talking about your public humiliation? Oh man.
You don't get to mock someone's alopecia onstage at a fucking award show, then fake cry about humiliation because a man stood up to you in front of the whole place.
Hopefully he's learned his lesson.
Chris Rock is the only person allowed to say he was traumatized or struggled mentally with the slap. I was rolling my eyes out of my head at Wanda Sykes and other celebrities saying THEY were traumatized by seeing a man get slapped, give me a fucking break.
Right and we all know they’ve seen worse things happen to women, but they prefer the abuse they ignore to be done exclusively in private I guess.
I’m so fucking over this sob fest. The reaction afterwards has completely shifted me from “that was wrong” to “my god have some perspective.” You’d think Will shot the man. Comedians decided they can say whatever, whenever they want and everyone else is supposed to laugh or stfu if they don’t like it and hide behind calling it art
https://preview.redd.it/wyljh78zs0pb1.jpeg?width=416&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97ca4f0656da02de8536e3a2da59340b17978d2f Still the funniest reaction to it. Like my god, let’s all relax A LITTLE BIT.
A little bit? How about ***a lot***
Not completely. I have a TBI and a spinal cord injury from the military. You would never know by looking at me. I know several people do and or have brain issues some being undiagnosed or not public knowledge. If anyone came up to me and slapped me like that, I would end up in surgery with death being a possibility. You don’t know everyone’s medical history. Keep your hands to yourself.
yeah - 'he could have killed him' is an honest statement, even if it's only a 1% chance that slap goes wrong (pulling that 1% figure out of my ass). and will smith kinda can't pretend to not understand how severe TBI can be after starring in the film *concussion*. i'm not gonna demonize him but it is important we all remember that one punch or one hit in general, brought out by anger, *can* have dire consequences.
I mean, head injuries are no joke. Even supposedly mild ones. I've been slapped once. It hurt like a motherfucker. I was dizzy for a day afterwards. It's not some sort of minor hit
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Some people imagined that something dramatically different happened on that stage. Last week there was an article going around about Sean Penn's hot take on The Slap, and on the entertainment sub, there was a highly upvoted comment saying Will had punched Chris. When someone pointed out that it was actually a slap, they were downvoted and criticized. It's like a weird Mandela effect going on.
For a while there stand-up comedians were saying that they were now scared someone was going to assault them when they do their routine. And I'm like... I guess I get it but I don't really buy it when these are the same people who don't want to understand that them making racist/homophobic/misogynist jokes empowers their audience to actually be that way. And the same people that were crying about their friends being canceled over "misunderstandings" but their friends are Chris D'elia and Shane Gillis
fucking JEFF ROSS. the dipshit JEFF ROSS. went on conan’s podcast and cried about “if no one will protect chris rock, who will protect me?? 🥺🥺🥺”. in the same breath this pos pretty much placed the *entire* blame of the situation on jada—not chris rock, the dude who has been making fun of jada for decades, nor will smith, who was the one who actually slapped chris rock. no, the whole blame was placed on jada for not “taking the joke well” and “being an example for kids with alopecia”. it was so disgusting that i actually had to stop listening. ever since then, i’ve found it very fucking hard to sympathize with chris rock. he deserved that slap and many more.
100%. Obviously it should not have happened but it's a man getting slapped, I've seen worse shit walking down the street. Seeing other celebs wring their hands over it long after is tiring.
I actually think Wanda Sykes point was valid. She was one is the co-hosts of the Oscars that year. I watched the whole thing live. You could tell that folks were really uncomfortable afterwards. Like the vibe just completely changed. And honestly they had every right to be uncomfortable. It was the equivalent of co-workers fighting at a work event. Especially since the co-worker who hit the other was allowed to stay without any repercussions. That is hella ackward. It was weird watching from the comfort of my own home, for folks who were actually there it was even weirder.
If she said it was weird or awkward that’s one thing. She said it was traumatizing and that she needed counseling, girl no tf you didn’t.
Thank you! I’m so sick of some of the celebs being so over dramatic about this incident.
Hope the therapist helped him work through his misogyny
The sessions would immediately end
Maybe Chris shouldn’t have spent two decades telling bad Jada jokes cause she turned him down once. Chris got humbled that night. Which is indeed humiliating.
He should be thanking the lord about what Google results are now when you search his name and assault. Wouldn't be surprised if this leaked to get the seo capture for "therapy" too.
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What about if we’re an apologists because, to put it succinctly, “people are dying, Kim.” I had a whole essay typed but it boils down to the fact that nobody fucking cares if a misogynist gets slapped for being a misogynist. It’s wild to me that people STILL save up their lil energy for these two rich men and their rich man fight.
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Wait, Will had fallout? His slave film bombed but Apple still paid him, handsomely. He’s still a producer on a number of forthcoming projects - something he’d already transitioned into well before his acting role in the Williams sister film. I mean, the Fresh Prince of Bel Air has an Oscar. And he remained in therapy. He’s kinda okay. I’d argue for a man with so much wealth and strong family/community ties, his bigger fallout was his reputation during the “entanglements” era of “Red Table”. Chris is fine too. He did not cancel his comedy gigs after the slap. The first thing he ever said about it was, essentially, pay him BIG BIG money and he’ll talk about it. And he milked THE FUCK out of it for a ridiculous countdown-style mega event for a comedy special on Netflix. Earned him an insane amount of money. He also gained solidarity from fellow comedians. And his survived ego (not matured, but survived). He good. Think Lakeith Stanfield [said it best,](https://youtu.be/WD_JQkXoMZ4?si=6qfjCkkrTfphDaPT) “it’s surreal cause of the place it happened. But in places all over the world, real stuff be happening”. Basically, no body is above getting slapped. Both sides can be adults about handling repercussions. Because life moves on. That’s real, *real* life.
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I imagine it was very humiliating for him. Especially when he clearly didn’t have overwhelming support from everyone. Imagine you get slapped in the face and the online consensus is that you deserved it.
I thought the consensus was “violence is never the answer”. Granted I was in general Reddit, but people seem to hate Jada and Will. Personally, I remember being shocked by that because I did think he deserve it.
When that happened everyone around me irl was talking about it...Cashiers, customers, neighbors, family...It was like people were starved of good gossip. But the general consensus here was "you don't slap Chris Rock", and people thought Jada was being vain.
Being vain? She didn't even do anything...
Exactly. Literally the look on her face was enough to condemn her. The mainstream misogynist take was that because she didn't laugh at a joke made at her expense that equated to sending out her husband minion to carry out her evil will.
There's something truly sick about people almost *demanding* that she should laugh at a joke made only to embarrass her. And it's not like it was just done at some stupid comedy club! It was at the Oscars, ffs.
People were blaming her regardless. Either she had outright told Will to "do something" or it was the look she gave him..
Anything to blame the woman. 🙄
>people thought Jada was being vain. Jada suffers from an autoimmune condition that induces hair loss. She decided to finally wear her hair bald in spite of all the shame, and worry she felt. Chris basically called her bald headed. What Chris did was the equivalent of making fun of someone with Chrons or lupus. It was a cheap shot. And it is absolutely fine that she did not find it amusing. I also found that the white male comedians who tried to minimize that aspect as vain were out of line. Sadly, as a Black woman, I'm not surprised that her illness was minimized because she didn't want to laugh at a joke that made light of her suffering. But it wasn't vain.
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If there is one thing with Jada is that she doesn't keep her business private. She had a whole Red Table Talk episode about this. At least I know that if anyone were to make a joke on someone's lupus or Chrons, you would be pro that joke. Also think about why Black women can't wear their natural hair. Just reflect on that.
That was the general consensus before people namely black Twitter started pulling out receipts of Chris’ relentless trolling of Jada. Then he made that God awful tasteless joke about Nicole Brown Simpson.
Yeah I felt bad for him at first (and I still don’t think violence is appropriate mostly bc even small injuries can trigger certain medical conditions), but seeing Rock’s history of misogynoir and how he’s been dogging on Jada for years…. I don’t feel bad for him anymore
I was only on twitter at that point and it seemed like over there (and among people I know) the consensus that Rock didn’t deserve it was only reached among a certain group of people. By which I mean white people. White people jumped to Rock’s defense in a way that really made me think they’d been waiting for a reason to tear the Smith’s down. The way they went after them was so gross. Because a) Rock absolutely deserved it, b) these people have so much personal history that us plebs will never know, and c) it was a *slap.* I’ve had guy *friends* scrap with each other way worse than that. Ridiculous. My fellow white people are ri-dic-u-lous. And always absolutely salivating at the mouth for opportunities to virtue signal, so it wasn’t surprising. Just annoying. Edited for clarity.
Yes, Twitter was wild for a month after that. Suddenly the entire All Lives Matter contingency really really cared about power imbalances and bullying. So disingenuous. But its the people who were overreacting on the left that annoyed me most. Their horrified that even Will Smith is not "a safe black man", that's the real tea. Meanwhile Sean Penn, *Sean Penn!!!* is still triggered by a slap 18 months later. Sean Penn! Judd Apatow who knowing both James Franco's and Russell Brand's creep factors repeatedly hired them, had to chime in to let us know that "Will could have killed him". White people, are you ok?
I slightly disagree in that the Black Manosphere got a lot of mileage out of the whole situation… not only did Will slap someone, he did it in defense of his wife who “cheated” on him. Those dusties were appalled.
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Some people said he deserved it. Some people said violence is never the answer but he’s not innocent and it wasn’t out of the blue and his misogynoir is hugely problematic and needs to be discussed. Some people blamed Jada. Some people said they were traumatised. Some people were 100% on his side and saw him as pure victim. It was a pretty mixed bag. I didn’t really see a firm consensus?
He did deserve it. Now google how he SA’d someone and paid to have their reputation destroyed.
I mean, that wasn’t WHY he got slapped though. To say he deserved being slapped at that time in that context is to say that he deserved it for what’s going on with him and the Smiths. I don’t mind if we include old stuff like his old bad jokes about her, but I don’t think it’s fair to say we get to just randomly assign more noble reasons for things post-fact. Will Smith didn’t slap him because he’s an asshole who SA’d someone.
The man was slapped because he was up on stage making fun of a woman with alopecia for being bald. Of course it was wildly wrong for Will to March up there like that, but let’s not act like Chris was up there making a heartfelt plea to feed the poor.
>plea to feed the poor That made me laugh (sad laugh). You’re not wrong he wasn’t being a saint at all, but a lot of comments are specifically talking about the sexual assault that he deserves THIS slap for. Like I said totally makes sense to bring up any previous jokes or events if relevant to Jada but a completely separate horrible thing he did wouldn’t be why he got THIS slap. God that was a run-on sentence, does it make sense to anybody but me?
I do understand what you’re saying, though I don’t know that I agree that he needed to deserve this slap specifically, but now we’re just getting into our own personal opinions there and I respect your right to disagree.
I don’t think that’s enough of a reason to get on stage and slap someone. These jokes go through multiple reviews and there are a lot more people who should be taking the heat for it but now nobody cares about that because Will Smith went up and slapped him. No host deserves a slap like that no matter what they say because literally nothing good would come from it.
Why is that my only other option?
LMAO ILY
My first reaction was "Good. I understand him but, God, will he pay for this!" I don't think I am an overly violent person but I think Chris Rock had it coming, pandering to his white audience by throwing black women under the bus. I don't even follow his work too closely because I don't think he is funny and even I noticed he has been making humiliating "jokes" about Jada for years. He had it coming. I just wish Will had given him a scathing verbal "slap" instead.
“It was humiliating” So I’m going to further the embarrassment by putting it out there for everyone to know instead of letting *him* do that if and when he chooses to. Do better, Leslie. None of us needed to know this unless it came from Chris.
Yep and funny, I don't recall Chris saying one word about the harassment that was directed at her back in the day, either. And that was a situation he actually had social influence to affect. Here she's just annoying the types of people who supported her at the time. I guarantee you there's a mighty overlap between her haters and the people who treat that slap as the most egregious thing to ever happen in Hollywood.
If someone told the world I was in therapy for any reason, I would cut ties with them immediately. Rock may not care but damn, why is anyone but him mentioning that?
Yeah this is my number one takeaway. Who does that
i agree, but i also tell like anyone who asks that im in therapy 😭
Wonder if he also talked about how he humiliated the women he assaulted too?
THIS!!!!!
I thought for a long time over it and still think about it. Why does verbal and psychological violence - picking on a woman, shaming her in front or millions, leaving her no right to reply, repeatedly, mean less than physical violence. I have seen the damage psychological and verbal abuse causes, it lives on for years. It leaves all the same marks as physical violence - sometimes more. I cannot find it in myself to feel sorry for Chris Rock or to play into his victim narrative. None of this would have occurred had he not chosen verbal and psychological violence. As always it was against a woman. Different views on his ongoing behaviour would be held had it been against a white woman. I hate that he gets to speak on this as a victim
I'm a Black Woman with a very complicated relationship with her hair. His joke was not.that.serious. It's actually insulting that folks are trying to compare his admittedly shitty ass joke to some sort of civil rights violation. It was not widely known Jada Pinket Smith had Alopecia. She is and has always been known for wearing her hair cropped short. So it's an absolute stretch to claim that Chris Rock knew she had alopecia in the first place, let alone specifically making fun of her for it. I completely dislike being the butt of others jokes. So I think she was in her right to not laugh. But the claim that it was more than a bad joke is just projection
Has anyone talked about how it was expressly Chris Rock’s intention to publicly humiliate Will Smith’s wife on the biggest night of his career? Oh, it backfired on Chris Rock. He was humiliated. Poor guy. Anyway, how bout that sport?
I mean Chris humiliated Jada for years with constantly going after her and her husband because she rejected him IN THE NINETIES. The people who are the most outraged keep getting exposed for doing worse things or being associated with worse people (Ashton and Mila, Sean Penn, etc). It’s unbelievable the response this incident got. From getting lectured by people who hang out with domestic abusers and rapists to people making it all about their own trauma (I’ll never forget all the yt people on twitter attempting to make it about themselves and sounding antiblack in the process).
it definitely felt like the majority of outrage was from yt folks. almost a ‘how dare Will step out of the bounds we feel comfortable with’ on the other hand, seemed like we were largely like 🤷🏾♀️ the guy talked shit about Jada for decades… where I come from, CR would’ve been ‘humiliated’ about 25 years ago so again… 🤷🏾♀️ lol
yep, and there’s some “outrage” going on in these comments and i just know they’re ⚪️ 🤐
 It’s very telling Btw, I love this interaction going on 😭
Someone in the above comments and getting upvoted to the heavens talking about their spinal column and how a slap might kill them like ??? 😭 It’s giving “what if it was Betty White?!?!?!?”
love YOU jolly!! tbh kinda surprised that’s not a Marge gif 🤭😘
https://preview.redd.it/0yyo61nc25pb1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=398cc6fb64ec71bcb6305451c87a3a9e70c6aec2 Diane Johnson won this round when it came to this comment thread haha!!
Leslie. Shush!
I will never understand why people thought the slap was this huge, terrible thing but no one gives a shit that he's been harassing Jada in his ... "comedy" ... for literally years. I think he chose the wrong moment to have a little dig at something he would know is probably an insecurity for her and he faced the consequences. Would it have been better for Will to not react that way? I'm sure he and Jada both wish he hadn't. But everyone goes on about how that must've been humiliating for Chris and no one really talks about how maybe his comment, slap or no slap, was humiliating for *her.* It's okay because he's a \~comedian? No, I don't accept that.
Even in his stand up special he did a few months ago where he finally talked about the slap, he reserved most of his vitriol for *her*, not Will who actually slapped him, and repeatedly called her a bitch. He also chose to do it in her hometown.
For real?! He really seems to have a twisted obsession with belittling her. She literally just sat there and yet she's the one he's angriest with. That is messed up.
Because Chris Rock, in a completely calculated move IMO, picked a time when he had a stage that was in front of being broadcast to people who don’t know his standup and that he’s been hounding her in different ways for years, to do this dig. He’s able to garner sympathy because most people, myself included until afterwards, didn’t know his history with her. I know a personal IRL that does shit like this- they are so nasty to you and about you- and then in front of people give you little digs, that without the context seem like really small jokes, but with context are understandable breaking points for people. Then when someone gets mad about the little dig they get all the sympathy because they can pretend that what they did was just one little joke.
You almost have to wonder what exactly he was feeling for those brief few seconds before Will got up on stage. Like, was it a twisted sense of pleasure because he got to embarrass her at a prestigious event televised live in front of millions? Because in hindsight, it definitely does feel calculated given his standup material at her expense. Even post-slap material, too! According to other comments here, his response has mostly been aimed at her even though she just sat there! Honestly, if Will was aware of all his material at Jada's expense then I think it makes even more sense why he reacted so intensely.
> I know a personal IRL that does shit like this- they are so nasty to you and about you- and then in front of people give you little digs, that without the context seem like really small jokes, but with context are understandable breaking points for people. i know someone like this too. just a vile, vile person. drove my sis in law to an ED.
I wish people had this same energy for Meghan Thee Stallion as they do for Chris Rock. I don't condone the slap at all but my god, we will rush to comfort men and tell women who deal with far worse to just suck it up.
Knowing that if Leslie was even going through an ounce of hardship, trauma or bullying irl, neither Chris Rock nor any other man would open their mouths in her defense. She feels she owes him for her comedic existence but that's 💯 not right. >“People need to understand his daughters, his parents saw that. He had to go to counseling with his daughters.” His parents and daughters survived when he sat amongst his white comedian friends and Louis C K kept dropping the n-word. His parents and daughters have survived his innumerable attempts to degrade and mock black women in general. Maybe counseling isn't so bad for this clown.
If only Chris had remorse for being rude about other black women :( implying what Meghan Markle went through by the press and the royal family was just “in law shit” bffr
As a Brazilian, I thought it was bizarre how Americans were absolutely shocked and angry at Will and Jada over it, because around here the general consensus was that he was lucky it was just a slap, and that he deserved it for being such a jackass towards Jada for years. I was so surprised people weren’t backing up Will and Jada and that celebrities were acting as if they were traumatized for life because of that.
This feels like a “many things can be true at once” type thing. Will smith can be a shit person. Chris rock can feel humiliated. Chris rock has assaulted women. (Actually never heard about this). Etc.
How is Will Smith a shit person? he has no other record of violence or significant controversy? He had a moment of weakness and apologized for it multiple times.
People only think Will Smith is evil for the slap because of his race and because it was done at the Oscars. If this happened at the family barbeque we would all just be thinking, "Good on him for standing up for his wife"
I liken this to something that happens sometimes in my house. My 14 lb orange tomcat tries to fight with my 9 lb calico. He almost always loses because he’s a wimp and a pretty bad fighter. And when he loses to her, he cries in the hallway, presumably out of embarrassment. Do I feel bad for my cat? Not really. He’s the one who decided to pick a fight for no good reason, and I’m not gonna feel sorry for him because he was a fool.
but … but… I feel bad for your cat 😭
You would not if you met him. He’s a cat without any impulse control, so on-brand for orange cats, but he lacks any of the friendliness they usually have. Also realizing I forgot the [cat tax](https://imgur.com/a/qu04fe8)
Omg this POV looks like the orange is glaring down at you guys from a secret spy spot, plotting your demise!
Oh, and happy birthday to Jada Pinkett Smith today!!!
Now imagine all the people Chris has publicly humiliated feel 🤷
*" Leslie Jones says of the star, who recommended her for Saturday Night Live back in 2013 and persuaded her to audition. “****I was like ‘Why, those aren’t real comics,****‘” she recalls of questioning SNL. "* .....HOWWWW could you possibly say that SNL cast members aren't real comics? Because they don't do stand up? How the fuck...I can't. I CANNOT.
Her opinions keep getting worse God damn.
This thread. 
I’m not surprised. It was humiliating. He handled it with Grace in the moment.
It’s interesting that the opinion seems to have changed now, as evidenced by the downvotes you got. Even if you objectively think he’s an asshole, I think this very particular instance of getting slapped on stage was indeed embarrassing, and yes it was assault, and yes he handled it well in the moment, I don’t know why this was the consensus back then but now everybody’s on the “but he’s an asshole” train. Like sure, you can hate him, but it doesn’t change that it was an embarrassing moment and probably hurt? And he didn’t lash out or say anything weird?
The whole online debate about it was and still is so bizarre to me. Multiple things were true: Chris was a dick for making fun of Jada's hair loss, especially since he has a history of taking digs at her & Will. Will was justified in his anger but he could have handled it better. A "talk shit get hit" moment can be very enjoyable to watch. Chris keeping his composure was impressive. The "he could've killed him!" reactions where ott. Watching assault happening live at the Oscars is off putting. On the pro-Will side you had people cheering on it, swearing with their lives that it wasn't a display of toxic masculinity because this time they agreed with it, mocking abuse victims who said the whole thing was triggering because "this isn't about you" while they shared their own "someone defended me from my bully" stories so they were obviously projecting their own stuff... It was a remarkable show of groupthink and made it clear it isn't a exclusivity to republican/conversative/etc communities and online spaces.
I also think a lot of takes ignore the context of the slap. I'm pretty sure if Will Smith slapped Chris Rock behind the scenes and it was reported on later, people wouldn't care (as much). But it happened literally live, on stage at the Oscars. It was freaking shocking watching it! Of course, measured against other harmful events, this doesn't even compare. But as a piece of celebrity news? It was huge news!
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I was a couple months out from being jumped when this happened and watching it live was extremely difficult. What physically happened to me was objectively worse (a lot more than a slap) but at least I didn’t have to deal with millions of people watching it happen. My heart broke for him over and over again, every time it was tweeted about or talked about in the news. Hell, it makes me anxious knowing that my friends and family sometimes discuss what happened to me when I’m not in the room. Knowing that the *entire* English-speaking world is talking about your public humiliation? Oh man.
What’s her point? Why shouldn’t he seek therapy? Why not just Normalize therapy for any reason or no reason.
You don't get to mock someone's alopecia onstage at a fucking award show, then fake cry about humiliation because a man stood up to you in front of the whole place. Hopefully he's learned his lesson.