Will Smith beats Chris Rock at the Oscars
There have been shocks, sighs and surprises at this year’s Oscars – but all anyone cares about is a slap in the face. The Oscars took place on Sunday night, with films such as The Power of the Dog, West Side Story, Licorice Pizza and Coda competing in the major categories.
The biggest story of the night had almost nothing to do with the awards: a shocking altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock, sparked by a joke about Smith’s wife Jada. Smith took the stage and appeared to punch Rock in the face before yelling at him not to relate to his wife again.
It undoubtedly overshadowed the evening as a whole, and in particular – just minutes later – Smith’s winning the Best Actor Oscar for King Richard. Smith tearfully called himself “a vessel of love” and apologized to the Academy. The LAPD confirmed that Rock is not facing charges. The academy said it would not condone “any form of violence” and launched a “formal review” of what happened. Hours later, Smith apologized to Rock and said he was “embarrassed.”
Following the onstage incident, celebrities including Alec Baldwin and Adam Sandler have spoken out in support of Rock, whose upcoming comedy tour has since garnered tremendous interest.
You can follow all developments around the “slap that went around the world” in our live blog below…
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Police are investigating a drone sighting near Will Smith’s LA home
Police officers were called two days after “The Slap” to investigate a drone sighting near Will Smith’s Los Angeles mansion.
A spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office told the news media that police arrived at Smith’s home after someone reported a drone flying through the neighborhood. However, they declined to comment on whether the complaint was filed by a member of the Smith family or another resident.
“We just sent this unit over there to try to locate the drone and see if there are paparazzi or what’s going on,” Deputy Lizette Salcon told Page Six.
Peony Hirwani has the full story:
Maanya Sachdeva30. March 2022 06:17
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Zoë Kravitz isn’t impressed with The Slap
Batman star Zoë Kravitz is the latest celebrity to express her displeasure at Will Smith slapping Chris Rock.
The actress posted a photo of herself on the red carpet on Instagram on Tuesday, looking stunned.
“Here’s a picture of my dress on the show where we seem to be attacking people on stage now,” she wrote.
Josh Marcus30. March 2022 04:30
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Another critic of Will Smith weighs in: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Numerous celebrities have spoken out about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock, and many have strongly criticized the King Richard actor’s behavior.
NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the latest to join the fight.
In a post Tuesday on his Substack blog, the former Los Angeles Laker Big Man wrote, “When Will Smith stormed onto the Oscars stage to smack Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife’s short hair, he judged he does a lot more damage than just Rock’s face. In one stubborn swipe, he advocated violence, demeaned women, insulted the entertainment industry and perpetuated stereotypes about the black community.”
Here’s how others reacted to The Slap.
Josh Marcus30. March 2022 04:00
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Slap-happy: Twitter users keep tagging the wrong Will Smith over the Oscars dispute
A man who goes by the same name as Will Smith and is verified on Twitter has been the target of abuse on the social media platform since Sunday night as users continue to mistake him for the King Richard actor.
Those upset by Sunday night’s events have taken to Twitter to voice their criticism of Smith.
Unfortunately, the actor doesn’t appear to have a verified Twitter account, and social media users have directed their comments at a non-famous man who shares his name.
Will Smith, a podcast host who works in communications for video game developer Stray Bombay, wrote in a tweet on Sunday: “Really, I’m not the person you’re upset/happy with. I make podcasts and video games for a living.
Read more from Saman Javeds History for Indy/Life.
Josh Marcus30. March 2022 03:21
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What do our Voices columnists say about The Slap?
Karl Pfeilschmied explores how Will Smith’s past can help explain what happened.
What went wrong? Who can tell? Smith writes in his memoirs that his perfectionist obsession with success stems from insecurity. His childhood was marked by violence and a complicated relationship with an abusive father. His no-nonsense, upbeat personality was not only key to his early successes in hip-hop, television, and films, but also a defense mechanism. “I equated success with being loved and being happy,” he writes. Perhaps it was a blow he just couldn’t take when he saw his wife take offense just as he was reaching the pinnacle of his accomplishments.
In the meantime, Victoria Gagliardo Silver considered the particular nastiness of Chris Rock’s joke about Jada Pinkett Smith given his previous work on a documentary highlighting cultural stigmas surrounding black women’s appearances.
Chris Rock was uniquely positioned to be sensitive to the subject, making his joke even more difficult to understand. In 2009, he hosted a documentary entitled Good Hair, which explored the stigmatization of black women’s hair in Western societies. At the time, he explained the reasons why he wanted to make the documentary, saying that his three-year-old daughter asked him, “Dad, how come my hair doesn’t look pretty?” It was reportedly an aha moment for Rock, realizing the pressure black women are under to have hair that is of an unattainable standard.
Josh Marcus30. March 2022 02:50
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Oscars bartender shares behind-the-scenes look at awards ceremony: ‘Everyone stopped drinking after being slapped’
An Oscars bartender has shared an inside look at the star-studded awards show and which celebrities looked their best at the 94th Annual Academy Awards.
The Oscars took place at the Dolby Theater in California on Sunday, with the awards ceremony capturing a number of notable moments including an incident in which Will Smith slapped Chris Rock after the comedian cracked a joke about the actor’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
According to bartender Daniel Ralston, who reportedly worked at the event, that moment caused a shift in the atmosphere at the awards show, as he claimed on Twitter that “after the slap, everyone stopped drinking.”
“Did bartender at the Oscars. Everyone stopped drinking after the slap,” Ralston wrote on Twitter on March 28.
Chelsea Ritschel has the details for Indy/Life.
Josh Marcus30. March 2022 02:21
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Lest we forget, this was also Samuel L. Jackson’s big night
(Getty Images)
The Oscars debate unsurprisingly revolved around Will Smith slapping Chris Rock, but some on Twitter are highlighting one of the awards season’s less-told stories: How legendary actor Samuel L. Jackson eventually won his Oscar.
The Pulp Fiction star was presented with a lifetime achievement award during a non-televised portion of Oscars weekend on Friday.
Josh Marcus30. March 2022 01:50
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Has Chris Rock suffered the curse of the Scottish Play? The “Macbeth” theory is gaining traction on Twitter
A day after Will Smith publicly slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, some on Twitter have a theory about what caused the comedian’s misfortune: He said “Macbeth.”
According to an old superstition, one must never say the name of the Shakespearean character in a theater except to perform or rehearse a line from the play. Instead, the monarch must be referred to as ‘the Scottish king’ or ‘the Scottish lord’ and the work itself as ‘the Scottish play’. Otherwise you invite a catastrophe.
And disaster sure did happen at the 94th Academy Awards, where an angry Smith came onstage and slapped Rock in the face, then returned to his seat and cursed him out loud from there. Interestingly, the moment was almost immediately preceded by the comedian mentioning Macbeth.
“Dezel!” Rock called from the stage Denzel Washington, who appeared in Joel Coen’s film adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy last year. “Macbeth! Loved it!”
Nathanplatz has the story.
Josh Marcus30. March 2022 01:20
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Oscar audiences increased by 550,000 after The Slap
It might not have been planned, but Will Smith slapping Chris Rock gave Oscar audiences a major boost, according to TV data.
The audience watching the Oscars increased by about 550,000 to a total of 17.4 million people in the ten minutes after the slap, according to a New York Times analysis of Nielsen television numbers.
But that wasn’t the highlight of the evening. A crowd of nearly 17.7 watched as Troy Katsur, the first deaf man to win an acting Oscar, accepted his award for Best Supporting Actor at the start of the show.
Josh Marcus30. March 2022 01:00
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Crazy About This: Customers respond to Fashion Nova’s text cue to Will Smith’s slap
Fashion Nova has shocked its customers with a text message about a sale that included a reference to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock in the face at this year’s Oscars.
As Rock took to the stage at the Dolby Theater on Sunday night, he joked about Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia and compared her bald head to the character in the film GI Jane. The joke was not well received by Smith as he took the stage and slapped Rock in the face.
The following day, Fashion Nova sent its customers a text about a one-day sale with the words “slapped” and “rock” in reference to the surprise Oscar incident, which was shared on social media.
“Fashion Nova: We BID 40 percent of the ENTIRE page!” read the posted text via twitter. “It’s time to ROCK new spring looks… just for today.”
Amber Raiken has more on this bizarre marketing scheme.
Josh Marcus30. March 2022 00:40