Normally, hitting someone across the face earns you a night in jail and assault charges to boot. Unless you’re an A-list celebrity whose violent outburst occurred at the Academy Awards for the whole world to see — then it’s no big deal.
Will Smith shocked everyone at this year’s Oscars ceremony when he walked onstage and slapped comedian and host Chris Rock across the face in response to a joke Rock made about his wife’s hair. After hitting Rock, Smith sat back down and started screaming profanities at him, leading cable networks to censor and mute the exchange altogether.
At first, Smith’s behavior seemed like a bit. Even Rock was laughing as Smith started walking onto the stage. But as Smith became angrier and angrier and the audience sat dumbstruck, it became clear that this was not a part of a joke. Smith was actually upset, and he really did assault another man on live television.
The most absurd part of the whole interaction, though, was how quickly everyone moved on. Rock, to his credit, was able to compose himself quickly and keep cracking jokes. Everyone else in the audience returned to their normal stream of laughter and applause. And even Smith got back onstage later in the event to accept his Oscars award and give a tearful thank-you speech in which he barely even mentioned what had just transpired.
“Love will make you do crazy things,” he said. “In this time in my life, in this moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world. … I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people.”
It is not clear whether Smith considers hitting someone in the face a part of the loving and protecting he is being called to do. He did, however, apologize to Rock via a written Instagram statement the next day — but only after the Academy Awards announced it would be conducting an investigation into the incident, with the implication being that Smith could be stripped of his Oscars award for violating the organization’s code of conduct.
Smith deserves more than just that. He deserves to face actual, real-world consequences. But those don’t exist in Hollywood, which is exactly why Smith felt comfortable lashing out in the first place.
