On Will Smith slapping Chris Rock and what I know about heroes and violence
“Jada, can’t wait for G.I. Jane 2,” a sharply dressed Chris Rock said to Jada Pinkett Smith in front of a packed house of celebrities and viewers at home watching the 94th Academy Awards ceremony. Will Smith, Jada’s equally dapper, megastar husband, then made his way to the stage, power-walked toward the 57-year-old comedian, and right after Rock said, “Awwww, here comes Richard” — as in his Oscar-nominated role as the hero of “King Richard,” as in Richard Williams, father of the famous tennis champion Williams sisters –– Smith cocked his arm back like granddad’s rifle and slapped the taste out of Rock’s mouth in what was maybe the best-dressed assault in the history of the Academy Awards. “Baby, you see that?” my wife said to a half-asleep me. The slap woke me up. “Oh hell no, that’s not real,” I said, wiping the sleep off of my face. “Would the Oscars stage a bit where two Black men fight, at the height of racial tension in the woke era? In 2022? Hell, no. Rewind …
