So unless you have been living under a rock you will know about the Oscars beat down that Will Smith served Chris Rock.
When Chris Rock took to the stage to present the Oscar for Best Documentary, the drama began. Naturally, he started cracking jokes, as stand up comics do. Will Smith who was nominated for best actor for his work in King Richard was seated with wife Jada Pinkett Smith. Rock then decided to make what he thought was a innocent joke.
I want to preface this by mentioning that, Jada Pinkett-Smith suffers from the autoimmune disease alopecia.
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Chris then joked that she looks like she could star in G.I. Jane. His actual words were
Jada, I love you – I can’t wait for GI Jane 2
To this, Jada rolled her eyes. For Will Smith however, the joke mocking his wife for her genetic disorder didn’t go down well and he walked on stage and slapped Chris Rock across his face stunning everyone.
Will Smith apologized later in his Best Actor acceptance speech to all of his fellow nominees and to the Academy.
He cried throughout his entire speech, and offered the apology to everyone without actually mentioning the assaulted Chris Rock. He said:
I want to apologize to the Academy, I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying for winning an award, it’s not about winning an award for me.
Smith did later apologize directly to Chris Rock in an instagram post. It read:
Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.
I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.
I would also like to apologize to the Academy, the producers of the show, all the attendees and everyone watching around the world. I would like to apologize to the Williams Family and my King Richard Family. I deeply regret that my behavior has stained what has been an otherwise gorgeous journey for all of us.
I am a work in progress.
Sincerely,
Will
Since then some alopecia advocates have come out on Will Smith’s side saying that he was just defending his wife. ZaraLena Jackson, of reality show “Ex on the Beach” is also afflicted with the hair-loss condition and is an advocate for it on social media; she and others are standing by him and his actions at the Dolby Theatre.
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The model told SWNS that while she doesn’t advocate for violence, Chris Rock should have “known better.” She said:
I think it’s inappropriate to make any joke about someone with alopecia as it’s a condition that highly impacts mental health for that individual and isn’t a laughing matter. To be clear, I don’t condone violence, but him defending Jada showed strength in my eyes and was very comforting to see a man stand by his woman when she has alopecia.
We have a video on the channel on how to regrow hair lost to alopecia for which you can click the tab above or the link in the description. The techniques in this video however relate to traction alopecia and not alopecia areata which is the autoimmune condition. With alopecia areata, the condition is trickier and does sometimes resolve with or without treatment. I’ll include a couple of links in the description to learn more about it.
A lot has happened since the infamous slap. Personally, I find it strange that Chris Rock would make a joke like that considering that he produced a film about black hair’s cultural significance. Remember “Good Hair”?
At the time the documentary was released, he said that he did it for his daughters in order to celebrate the importance of hair for women of color. Even if Rock was unaware of Pinkett Smith’s diagnosis, that he would make a joke about her baldness, has caused outrage to many viewers.
So my question is this, while Will Smith may have overreacted to the joke, was he really wrong? Let us know your opinion in the comments. Otherwise have a great rest of the week and all the best in your hair journey.
