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Cobra

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Violence is not okay.

If you watch it again, he laughs at the joke, then looks at her, sees her not finding it funny. He obviously knows her well enough that he needs to do something, so he changes from laughing to being insulted and had to react, resorting to violence.

Had he just said "don't insult my wife", he would have come off better. Now instead of being remembered for winning an Oscar, we remember him for this incident.

In case anyone doesn't know, Jada Smith is open about her illness, she revealed it a couple years ago, even made a post in the lines of "they can joke about it now" after shaving her head. So Chris Rock made a joke, which btw, he didn't mention her illness, only her likeness to GI Jane.

So the whole thing is strange that, they know they will be at the end of some jokes throughout the night, the Oscars do that, every year, they know this going in. This isn't a random insult down the pub, this is a live televised event in front of millions. Also, from memory this is not really a low bar for jokes Gervias has said much worse, not about hair loss in women. they made jokes Roman Polanski in the past. There was also a rehearsal, these jokes have been proofread by people.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
If you watch it again, he laughs at the joke, then looks at her, sees her not finding it funny.
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And that is the main talking point around social media sites.
Raymond Lin said:
Now instead of being remembered for winning an Oscar, we remember him for this incident.
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"Will Smith slaps Chris Rock and gets an Oscar"
 
Slapped him! couldn't he have laid him out with a decent punch?
 
Raymond Lin said:
Violence is not okay.

If you watch it again, he laughs at the joke, then looks at her, sees her not finding it funny. He obviously knows her well enough that he needs to do something, so he changes from laughing to being insulted and had to react, resorting to violence.

Had he just said "don't insult my wife", he would have come off better. Now instead of being remembered for winning an Oscar, we remember him for this incident.

In case anyone doesn't know, Jada Smith is open about her illness, she revealed it a couple years ago, even made a post in the lines of "they can joke about it now" after shaving her head. So Chris Rock made a joke, which btw, he didn't mention her illness, only her likeness to GI Jane.

So the whole thing is strange that, they know they will be at the end of some jokes throughout the night, the Oscars do that, every year, they know this going in. This isn't a random insult down the pub, this is a live televised event in front of millions. Also, from memory this is not really a low bar for jokes Gervias has said much worse, not about hair loss in women. they made jokes Roman Polanski in the past. There was also a rehearsal, these jokes have been proofread by people.
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Violence is not okay, but neither is making a joke about someones medical condition, irrespective of whether she is seemingly ok with it or not...

Whole thing's been blown out of proportion in my opinion and both parties should acknowledge their wrongdoings.
 
Neilc28 said:
Violence is not okay, but neither is making a joke about someones medical condition, irrespective of whether she is seemingly ok with it or not...

Whole thing's been blown out of proportion in my opinion and both parties should acknowledge their wrongdoings.
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He is a comedian, insulting people is his job. They went there knowing that he will do that, but did you watch what he said?

"Jada, I love ya, G.I. Jane 2, can't wait to see it."

First, G.I. Jane is a bad ass character, a positive character, a strong female character. Sure she has short hair, but it's not like he said "Jada turned up tonight looking like someone who has been through 5 rounds of chemo with leukaemia."

I don't see what Chris Rock said was wrong, lame joke sure, but he is a comedian and he hardly called her ugly, celebrities get insulted all day long at every Oscar, it's not news. Rebel Wilson insulted Will Smith and his wife too at the Golden Globes about their extra marital activities. Gervais insulted Mel Gibson about his drinking problem, and i forgot who it was insulting Martin Scorsase about him being short. I am sure Woody Allan got picked her about his private life. Roman Polanski joke has been made before as well. Of all the imaginary bad taste "line" that a comedian shouldn't cross, calling someone looking like G.I. Jane is not it.

Violence is not okay. His joke was lame. There is no "but".

Not to mention, the other side of this is that being the "Land of the Free" and all that free speech talk, i bet there are some people who think he deserved a slap also stands by the absolute of free speech.
 
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Savage :D

277222159_10158059333956537_4293033295532323076_n.jpg
 
Raymond Lin said:
He is a comedian, insulting people is his job. They went there knowing that he will do that, but did you watch what he said?

"Jada, I love ya, G.I. Jane 2, can't wait to see it."

First, G.I. Jane is a bad ass character, a positive character, a strong female character. Sure she has short hair, but it's not like he said "Jada turned up tonight looking like someone who has been through 5 rounds of chemo with leukaemia."

I don't see what Chris Rock said was wrong, lame joke sure, but he is a comedian and he hardly called her ugly, celebrities get insulted all day long at every Oscar, it's not news. Rebel Wilson insulted Will Smith and his wife too at the Golden Globes about their extra marital activities. Gervais insulted Mel Gibson about his drinking problem, and i forgot who it was insulting Martin Scorsase about him being short. I am sure Woody Allan got picked her about his private life. Roman Polanski joke has been made before as well. Of all the imaginary bad taste "line" that a comedian shouldn't cross, calling someone looking like G.I. Jane is not it.

Violence is not okay. His joke was lame. There is no "but".

Not to mention, the other side of this is that being the "Land of the Free" and all that free speech talk, i bet there are some people who think he deserved a slap also stands by the absolute of free speech.
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Maybe you need to educate yourself a bit more. I was born with a slight facial deformation, which meant from an early age to when I left school, I was verbally and physically abused because of it.

www.chroniclelive.co.uk

Alopecia campaigners explain why Chris Rock's Oscars joke was so offensive

Two Northumberland women who have suffered from alopecia have spoken about why Chris Rock's joke mocking Jada Pinkett-Smith was "not okay"
www.chroniclelive.co.uk www.chroniclelive.co.uk
 
andya700 said:
Maybe you need to educate yourself a bit more. I was born with a slight facial deformation, which meant from an early age to when I left school, I was verbally and physically abused because of it.

www.chroniclelive.co.uk

Alopecia campaigners explain why Chris Rock's Oscars joke was so offensive

Two Northumberland women who have suffered from alopecia have spoken about why Chris Rock's joke mocking Jada Pinkett-Smith was "not okay"
www.chroniclelive.co.uk www.chroniclelive.co.uk
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i know what it is and what she has. I’m not sure what you are doing trying to compare your disfigurement to her.

You seem to associate this joke with bullying and I whole heartedly agree that bullying is not right and being the only Asian kid in the entire school for my whole duration there, I’ve had my share and let’s not start ranking which kind is worse.

But let’s put into context here, and without repeating myself, how is this any worse than the Jewish joke aimed at Mel Gibson or Paedophile joke or alcoholism joke or short joke?

Are we start ranking bad taste now? He is paid to be there, his jokes are proof read by the academy, his joke IMO was made with good intentions that her current look is a strong one, to me, it’s half compliment. Remember that this is the land of the free, they love their freedom of speech, which btw, I personally thinks there should be limits like no hate speech but this was in America so I’m using their own laws as boundaries.

People love to put their boundaries on others, I’m trying to use the boundaries in the place it happened in and in America, what he said is allowed. Plus, people seem to forget that he mention nothing about her illness, he only mention that she looks the part to play G.I. Jane. The illness part is the assumption people made on their own. You can also see it as positive way that he found her look strong.

You don’t see it that way; your right and free to do that but please don’t compare to what you went through, I’m sure it’s terrible and I’m sorry for that. What she didn’t like (I honestly thinks she was fine about it because she is open about it and she has said recently that the jokes doesn’t bother her), and let’s not forget, Will Smith laughed, he laughed, and I say again, he found the joke funny, he wasn’t offended. But he is the guy who went up there and slapped Chris Rock 5 seconds after he laughed.

He laughed and was happy with the joke on his wife. I wish I made that up. It was an incredible 180 degree turn.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
Violence is not okay.

If you watch it again, he laughs at the joke, then looks at her, sees her not finding it funny. He obviously knows her well enough that he needs to do something, so he changes from laughing to being insulted and had to react, resorting to violence.

Had he just said "don't insult my wife", he would have come off better. Now instead of being remembered for winning an Oscar, we remember him for this incident.

In case anyone doesn't know, Jada Smith is open about her illness, she revealed it a couple years ago, even made a post in the lines of "they can joke about it now" after shaving her head. So Chris Rock made a joke, which btw, he didn't mention her illness, only her likeness to GI Jane.

So the whole thing is strange that, they know they will be at the end of some jokes throughout the night, the Oscars do that, every year, they know this going in. This isn't a random insult down the pub, this is a live televised event in front of millions. Also, from memory this is not really a low bar for jokes Gervias has said much worse, not about hair loss in women. they made jokes Roman Polanski in the past. There was also a rehearsal, these jokes have been proofread by people.
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As you said it wasn’t genuine he found it funny at first then saw his wife’s response then decided to go and strike someone
 
Neilc28 said:
Speaks volumes about the academy then doesn’t it.

Many lessons to be learnt here from ALL parties, not just smith
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Possibly, I guess they could either do away with jokes entirely because someone somewhere will be offended, or sent it out pre-show to all the people being in it and let everyone approve it first and fake laugh it or just cancel the entire show.
 
Gervaise's sh!t stirring deserves a punch rather than just a stage slap.
 
Can't stand either of them tbh, never found either to be funny or 'good actors' - I feel like it was staged too, Will just casually walks up to the host without anyone intervening, Rock looked like he was ready for it too IMO
 
Cagey75 said:
Can't stand either of them tbh, never found either to be funny or 'good actors' - I feel like it was staged too, Will just casually walks up to the host without anyone intervening, Rock looked like he was ready for it too IMO
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Rock even put his face out ready for the slap, hands behind his back! Will Smith smirked as he walked away.
But confusingly, it seems that everyone in Hollywood is taking it very seriously.
 
They may have felt a bit neglected with all this pandemic and war across the globe, one slap could get everyone's attention and it's already been milked to death, it's already taken over people's feeds in place of any updates on anything important
 

By someone who actually knows and likes him:​

Will Smith Did a Bad, Bad Thing​

When Will Smith stormed onto the Oscar stage to strike Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife’s short hair, he did a lot more damage than just to Rock’s face. With a single petulant blow, he advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the entertainment industry, and perpetuated stereotypes about the Black community.

kareem.substack.com

Will Smith Did a Bad, Bad Thing

Slapping Chris Rock was also a blow to men, women, the entertainment industry, and the Black community.
kareem.substack.com kareem.substack.com
 
10 years off for bad behaviour (that may well have been planned all along?)
 
Raymond Lin said:
Possibly, I guess they could either do away with jokes entirely because someone somewhere will be offended, or sent it out pre-show to all the people being in it and let everyone approve it first and fake laugh it or just cancel the entire show.
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Why does comedy have to be at somebody else's expense? The one thing that has run through this whole debacle is that Chris Rock has not apologised for what he said.
 
I would rarely watch a film because someone is in it and I generally take zero interest in celebrities but I have liked a few films he's been in. I saw a vid online yesterday, some of you may have seen it, and if it's a fair reflection and not being misinterpreted I now feel a bit sorry for WS.
 
Jelster said:
Why does comedy have to be at somebody else's expense? The one thing that has run through this whole debacle is that Chris Rock has not apologised for what he said.
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Yup.

Some of the comics I like best only really poke fun at themselves.
 
Jelster said:
Why does comedy have to be at somebody else's expense? The one thing that has run through this whole debacle is that Chris Rock has not apologised for what he said.
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That's a different question and topic.

No, comedies doesn't have to poke fun at anyone, his set could be doing an Mr Bean silent joke impression but that's not how the jokes in the Oscars work. It never has been Mr Bean or Benny Hill kind of comedy. It's been poking fun at a bunch of the 0.1% rich privileged people in the audience. That's the set up they have been doing for decades.

This is the way they do things, everyone has got the memo, everyone knows. A 50 year old actor who has been to these things for decades and has voting rights in the academy and part of the establishments suddenly just realised this?

Why does he have to apologise? his joke isn't offensive, which part is? he does not mention her illness…the connection to the illness is in your head, why does he have to apologise for what you jumping into the negative part of your brain?

Could he not just use her appearance alone for the connection? That is the joke, the appearance. And the appearance that fits to GI Jane. GI Jane doesn't have her illness. It's not like he said "Jada, I love ya, Philadelphia 2, can't wait to see it".

The implication that Tom Hanks shaved his head in that movie because of Aids. There is the connection of illness (different kind).

Shaving the head for GI Jane is purely the Navy Seals's own requirement for joining, shaved head. Navy Seals don't have hair baldness requirements. There is no illness connection in the Navy Seals (in fact, quite the opposite!). Any thinking of baldness illness or negativity of Navy Seals/GI Jane is all in your head. So why should he apologise for your negativity?
 
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Raymond Lin said:
That's a different question and topic.

No, comedies doesn't have to poke fun at anyone, his set could be doing an Mr Bean silent joke impression but that's not how the jokes in the Oscars work. It never has been Mr Bean or Benny Hill kind of comedy. It's been poking fun at a bunch of the 0.1% rich privileged people in the audience. That's the set up they have been doing for decades.

This is the way they do things, everyone has got the memo, everyone knows. A 50 year old actor who has been to these things for decades and has voting rights in the academy and part of the establishments suddenly just realised this?
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Just because it's the way the do things, doesn't mean it's right.
 
Jelster said:
Just because it's the way the do things, doesn't mean it's right.
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Then let's legislate comedy, control free speech in America. They are going to love that with the 1st Amendment in effect. They will have a revolution over that before limiting what can be said and not said.

Because the road you are treading is that you should stop what people find offensive, how exactly are you going to legislate that? Before you know it, you shouldn't take photos because I find your photo offensive as I have Agoraphobia and you take photos outside. Where is the line? How do you decide who find what offensive when the joke in the first place doesn't even state her illness?
 
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Raymond Lin said:
Then let's legislate comedy, control free speech in America. They are going to love that with the 1st Amendment in effect. They will have a revolution over that before limiting what can be said and not said.

Because the road you are treading is that you should stop what people find offensive, how exactly are you going to legislate that? Before you know it, you shouldn't take photos because I find your photo offensive as I have Agoraphobia and you take photos outside. Where is the line? How do you decide who find what offensive when the joke in the first place doesn't even state her illness?
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Raymond, when you're as ugly as me, and have a stupid surname, as I do, you get pretty thick skinned. After being an apprentice mechanic and spending time in the forces, it takes a lot to offend me... However, just taking the p*** is not comedy and it takes very little skill or wordcraft. Loads of stand ups have people it fits of laughter without resorting to getting personal. As they say, "it doesn't have to be this way", but it's easy and it makes the non thinkers laugh.
 
Jelster said:
Raymond, when you're as ugly as me, and have a stupid surname, as I do, you get pretty thick skinned. After being an apprentice mechanic and spending time in the forces, it takes a lot to offend me... However, just taking the p*** is not comedy and it takes very little skill or wordcraft. Loads of stand ups have people it fits of laughter without resorting to getting personal. As they say, "it doesn't have to be this way", but it's easy and it makes the non thinkers laugh.
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There are 2 distinct issues here.

1 - your person opinion
2 - where this took place

Your opinion has no merit on where this took place, it does not apply, it does not run on your opinion (or mine for that matter). If I could stop everyone offending people, I would. But that’s not what we are talking about. We are talking about something that happened at the Oscars at the US, they have their rules and they have their culture and their culture is that they take the p*** at each other at these events and that their laws allow it.

So, that’s basically it, you can go on about how you think this isn’t right in your world, except this did not happen in your world. You need to realise that separation.

And within their own rules and culture, this joke is not offensive, it’s only offensive only if you made the leap that this is a negative joke in your own head.

The thought process is simply this

Why do you find the joke offensive?

Answer - because he made fun of her illness

Question - the joke don’t not mention her illness, why did you think that way?

Answer - because G.I. Jane has a disability?
 
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I thought the ‘stars’ were insulted if they didn’t get a mention of any sort on the stage? Frankly with all that’s happening in the world the Oscars and the show are well down the list of importance.
 
mj4456 said:
I thought the ‘stars’ were insulted if they didn’t get a mention of any sort on the stage? Frankly with all that’s happening in the world the Oscars and the show are well down the list of importance.
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I read somewhere that all that patter on the stage was scripted and vetted beforehand — seems likely don’t you think?
 
Raymond Lin said:
There are 2 distinct issues here.

1 - your person opinion
2 - where this took place

Your opinion has no merit on where this took place, it does not apply, it does not run on your opinion (or mine for that matter). If I could stop everyone offending people, I would. But that’s not what we are talking about. We are talking about something that happened at the Oscars at the US, they have their rules and they have their culture and their culture is that they take the p*** at each other at these events and that their laws allow it.

So, that’s basically it, you can go on about how you think this isn’t right in your world, except this did not happen in your world. You need to realise that separation.

And within their own rules and culture, this joke is not offensive, it’s only offensive only if you made the leap that this is a negative joke in your own head.

The thought process is simply this

Why do you find the joke offensive?

Answer - because he made fun of her illness

Question - the joke don’t not mention her illness, why did you think that way?

Answer - because G.I. Jane has a disability?
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Making fun of people is not offensive, it's wrong. The woman was trying to look her best while suffering from alopecia, and getting laughs at her expense is plainly rude.

I'm sorry if my opinion stood on the moral high ground, I'll try and remember to lower my standards if we should ever interact again.
 
Jelster said:
Making fun of people is not offensive, it's wrong. The woman was trying to look her best while suffering from alopecia, and getting laughs at her expense is plainly rude.

I'm sorry if my opinion stood on the moral high ground, I'll try and remember to lower my standards if we should ever interact again.
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It’s not clear to me that was what he was doing. That hair style is quite common — I think her own daughter has similarly cropped hair from the photos I saw at the event.
 
Jelster said:
Making fun of people is not offensive, it's wrong. The woman was trying to look her best while suffering from alopecia, and getting laughs at her expense is plainly rude.

I'm sorry if my opinion stood on the moral high ground, I'll try and remember to lower my standards if we should ever interact again.
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He did not make fun of her alopecia (where did the joke said alopecia?) , as i said multiple times, it's your brain jumping to a negative conclusions. You can probably tell, I did not go that direction, reasons i have stated MULTIPLE times.

It's all in your head. The joke does not state or imply illness, only likeness to G.I. Jane. They are not the same thing.

See where i am going with this?
 
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I'm amazed this minor incident got so much press tbh, it's unavoidable if you use social media of any kind. Sick to the teeth off seeing/hearing about it. It was a bitch slap between 2 grown men FFS! MMA fighters throw punches at one another during weigh ins and face offs all the time, it never makes worldwide news, there's no melodrama about it. You might argue that, well they're fighters it's kind of expected - but it isn't, not until they are actually in the ring. Also, footballers are notorious for lashing out at one another, again it's never big news - but because these guys are Hollywood actors it overtook a war in the headlines ... pathetic
 
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