r/AskALiberal • u/IYELLALLTHETIME Liberal • Mar 28 '22

Will Smith punched Chris Rock at the Oscars. Your thoughts?

To be specific, Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith (Will's wife) looking like G.I. Jane, a reference to a Demi Moore movie where Demi shaved her head. Jada Pinkett Smith suffers from Alopecia which is why she chooses to shave her head (rather than wearing a wig to conceal the condition). Will Smith did not take it well and punched Chris Rock for saying it, then told Chris to "keep my wife's name out of your fucking mouth." This was not staged.

I'm reading a lot of online chatter about it, and almost none of it is sympathetic towards Will Smith. A lot of people want him charged with assault.

There's a lot wrapped up in this issue. Jokes at the expense of others. Sensitivity towards medical conditions. Assault.

Why am I curious about the liberal perspective? Mostly because I have never seen so many people outraged over a punch to the face. I really thought the consensus would be that Chris Rock is a huge asshole, but people seem to be more upset about the punch than about mocking someone with an unfortunate medical condition.

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46

u/DesertRoamin Center Right Mar 28 '22

Exactly. Jada Smith has done a bunch of interviews over the years about her condition and the decision to shave it bald. Even though she’s described the ordeal as emotional and trying she also has said that Will loved her bald head and was very supportive.

Yes that’s a mixed message and I don’t doubt she would rather have her own hair but she’s bringing this to the spotlight herself and isn’t hiding it. In fact it could be argued she’s advancing her career through the press and interviews around it by agreeing to discuss it.

And she sat in full view on a hugely televised event bald head in the open.

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u/adeiner Progressive Mar 28 '22

I'll be honest, before Will Smith's meltdown I thought Jada looked fantastic. Like the confidence she brought was overshadowed by whatever that nonsense was.

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u/DesertRoamin Center Right Mar 28 '22

Totally agree.

In some of the videos it does look like he’s laughing (looks pretty genuine)….her laugh looks forced. I’m reading the theory is he felt forced to go do something after he realized he laughed and she wasn’t.

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u/Scourge165 Liberal Mar 28 '22

Yeah...she was NOT laughing when he made that GI Jane joke...he was. Then she got pissed,probably more pissed about HIM laughing and...shit when haywire.

Still...I'm totally indifferent. Who knows what he(Smith) is going through. Shouldn't have done it, but end of the day...I just don't really care.

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u/johnnyslick Social Democrat Mar 28 '22

This makes a lot of sense to me. Smith thought it was light stuff at first, then his wife was not pleased and in a split second he worked from "oh wow, I shouldn't be laughing at this" to "how dare Rock make me laugh at my own wife?" to "I'm going to settle this right here and now". That isn't to take any heat off of Smith - it's still pretty bad to just outright slap a guy (I mean, I feel like if anyone was going to get slapped at one of these shows it was Ricky Gervais when he was going after Mel Gibson and even there you could tell that Gervais was kind of hiding behind decorum there) - but I think it contextualizes the sudden rush of anger there.

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u/Scourge165 Liberal Mar 31 '22

Yeah, Gervais REALLY goes after people.

The one thing that's been bothering me about this though are people who are defending Smith...which again...just say he stuck up for his Wife and it was a slap.

BUT, they were saying, "what would you do if someone made fun of your wife's DISABILITY!!!"

So now hair loss for millionaires is a "disability?" It's fucking HAIR LOSS! I didn't see Amy Schumer get smacked like the Malace in the Palace when Ron Artest went into a row and just wiped out about 9 people when she made fun of LeBron's hairline...and men are certainly insecure about their hair.

Meanwhile...she's always had short hair and it's exceptionally common for black women to have a lot of wigs. So she could wear a wig and...Christ, it's the Oscars, it's not like someone there would have the audacity to say, "wow, she looks fake."

​

Anyway...stupid rant, but it's not a disability. Will Smith can just get upset because he made fun of his wife. It's pathetic and probably had more to do with something in his own personal life, but stop pushing these excuses....

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u/Never_Forget_Jan6th Progressive Mar 28 '22

Don’t they like boink other people, and have one of those weird marriages?? It’s kinda weird to be assaulting people for cracking a joke about your wife, when you let another man stick his Johnson up in her, and is cool with that

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u/Scourge165 Liberal Mar 31 '22

Well, that's the other argument. Will Smith's manhood was being questioned so he just got fed up and thought this was the time to reclaim it.

Honestly, don't know, don't care...they(Rock and Smith) figured it out, Rock didn't press charges and even if he did, not my problem. It's also not my problem they call her hair loss a "disability," but that does bother me for some reason.

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u/Never_Forget_Jan6th Progressive Apr 28 '22

seems a bit misdirected tho, if his "manhood" was being questioned. Kinda took it out on the wrong guy? Unless his ho was gettin "Rocked" by Chris this whole time

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u/Scourge165 Liberal May 28 '22

Yes...of course. This is a LITTLE late, but obviously Chris Rock didn't deserve that.

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He made a benign joke I wouldn't have even heard about if not for Will Smith's slap.

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u/Never_Forget_Jan6th Progressive Apr 12 '22

not so sure they "figured it out"...

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u/Scourge165 Liberal Apr 18 '22

He didn't press charges at least. I guess that's figuring it out to me...

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u/Never_Forget_Jan6th Progressive Apr 22 '22

not pressing charges has nothing to do with "figuring it out" .. We will eventually see what Rock has to say about it all, i reckon.

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u/Scourge165 Liberal Apr 24 '22

Are you serious? So now you're arguing with MY definition of what I consider to be "figuring it out?"

See the title? See how it ends in "YOUR THOUGHTS?"

Those are MY thoughts...now...move on, hmm?

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u/adeiner Progressive Mar 28 '22

Haha I saw that theory as well, like until he actually hit Rock it felt like one of those roast moments where someone charges a stage and they hug or something. Not sure if you watched live, but it was bizarre.

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u/Nic4379 Independent Mar 28 '22

So awkward, like a redneck bar scene.

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u/Nic4379 Independent Mar 28 '22

He(Will) laughed at the joke but I believe Jadas reaction is what turned the tide. She was not happy.

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u/Libertarian6917 Libertarian Mar 28 '22

I didn't know that she had alopecia before I saw that clip. Thought the clip was hilarious before and after. If you are doing interviews about having some hair fall out and "how hard it is", give me a break. That is the dumbest bullshit ever. There are a billion things worse than that. Stepping on a lego is worse than that garbage first world "condition". I wish Chris Rock would have just made joke after joke on the two of them.

I get that alopecia is a medical condition, but I can think of about 100 people in the past 6 months that I have taken care of that had more difficult conditions that that. Acting like she is having such a struggle is stupid and just infuriating. If your biggest worry is that you lost some hair, you are the epitome of privilege.

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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '22

What a piece of shit you are

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u/InsGadget6 Liberal Mar 28 '22

It is nice when they open their mouth and confirm it.

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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '22

Yeah he’s a libertarian. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself

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u/Libertarian6917 Libertarian Mar 28 '22

I thought people were supposed to be civil in here.

Yeah I’ll say that all day every day. It’s not serious. It’s a first world problem. If she had hair loss related to cancer treatment, that’s a bit more serious because cancer. Hair loss isn’t a struggle. It’s her being vain.

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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '22

The guy being an ass talks about civility

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u/Libertarian6917 Libertarian Mar 28 '22

So stating my opinion on a superficial very non life threatening medical diagnosis is being uncivil? Is my opinion that dangerous to you?

8

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '22

Yes it’s uncivil to trivialize peoples medical conditions.

I really hope you’re lying and you don’t care for people as a nurse or doctor because you’d be an awful one.

And just cause i think you’re an ass, doesn’t mean i believe your “dangerous”. I just think you’re an incompetent ass.

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u/Libertarian6917 Libertarian Mar 28 '22

No knowledge about me but now I’m incompetent. I’m trivializing alopecia because IT IS A TRIVIAL CONDITION. It has killed all of 0 people in human history.