# So Will Smith punched Chris Rock at the Oscars last night **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comedian-jokes, talk-variety-show\ **Created:** [March 28, 2022, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826 "2022-03-28T08:32:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 25
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/481 "2022-04-01T12:39:58Z")
Asked my wife about the memoir, and she said WS came across as viewing himself as the “protector” of others. So maybe this action was very consistent with that. Sure was boorish behavior, tho - both words and deeds. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/482 "2022-04-01T13:07:37Z")
Both men were wrong and both have apologized. Rock shouldn’t have made light of her appearance. Smith shouldn’t have resorted to violence. Hopefully that’s the end of it. For the Academy to get all sanctimonious now doesn’t make sense to me- there have been a great many deeply flawed people to win Oscars. Punish Smith by taking this into account for future awards but I don’t think it’s right to strip the award from him after the fact. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/483 "2022-04-01T13:36:55Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > there have been a great many deeply flawed people to win Oscars This is true and deserves conversation but I think it is still separate from someone actually physically attacking someone _at the Academy Awards_. Even if you’re a saint in every other way, it seems reasonable for a place to boot you and not invite you back when you bring shit into their house. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/484 "2022-04-01T13:40:28Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Both men were wrong and both have apologized. Rock shouldn’t have made light of her appearance. Smith shouldn’t have resorted to violence. Hopefully that’s the end of it. For the Academy to get all sanctimonious now doesn’t make sense to me- there have been a great many deeply flawed people to win Oscars. Punish Smith by taking this into account for future awards but I don’t think it’s right to strip the award from him after the fact. Unless something happened overnight I don’t know about Rock did not apologize. Nor should he. There was a fake apology going around you might have seen. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/485 "2022-04-01T13:41:29Z")
I could have sworn I saw somewhere that Rock did apologize. Perhaps I’m wrong. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/486 "2022-04-01T13:56:11Z")
I wonder if The Academy will tell presenters no adlibbed insult comedy directed at members of the audience in the future. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/487 "2022-04-01T14:02:43Z")
If they went that way, why allow any insult comedy? adlibbed or not. Why not just be a trade award show. If violence was on the table, or they think celebs will storm the stage attacking the presenter… no insult jokes then. It’ll be boring, but there’s less avenues for violence from unstable celebrities. Of course, you should also have security at that point. No one, NO ONE, on stage unless they will conduct themselves with the most basic proper non-violent demeanor. (I don’t want to imply that Rock’s joke was one of malice, but that the Smith’s are an extremely unstable family) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/488 "2022-04-01T14:18:48Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I could have sworn I saw somewhere that Rock did apologize. Perhaps I’m wrong. Looks like he apologized to Wanda Sykes, but she asked why he was apologizing. He just told her it was supposed to be her night and it was kind of ruined. He has no need to apologize, I think. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/489 "2022-04-01T15:36:45Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > (I don’t want to imply that Rock’s joke was one of malice, but that the Smith’s are an extremely unstable family) Ever heard the Tiffany Haddish Groupon story? It’s quite telling. This is the Jimmy Kimmel PG version: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/C2PneBztZ3g/maxresdefault.jpg "Tiffany Haddish Took Will & Jada Pinkett Smith on a Groupon Swamp Tour") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2PneBztZ3g) ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/490 "2022-04-01T15:37:33Z")
I agree- I was disappointed when the fake apology was reported. He was doing his job, the joke was not “humiliating” it was mild, not even particularly funny or noteworthy, and would have been forgotten if Will had not reacted in a violent manner. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/491 "2022-04-01T15:41:51Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Hindsight is always 20/20. The problem was that “the Academy” did not produce the TV broadcast, and “the producer” was pretty much limited to showing what was happening on stage. > > Take a look at any live news or sports program where something goes badly wrong – say a power failure at a sporting event where the lights go out. There’s no instant solution; the announcers fumble around for awhile while the producers try to decide whether to switch to another game, go to the studio and let those announcers try to fill time, or just hope the lights come back on. > > In this case, probably the only person who had the actual authority to order Will Smith out was David Rubin, the President of the Academy. Rubin, whose actual profession is casting director, had already been slapped around by Academy members for daring to move some of the lesser categories out of the live telecast. Now he was stuck with the decision on whether to kick out one of Hollywood’s biggest names while simultaneously working with the telecast’s producer to reorder the show on the fly. Under those pressures, doing nothing and let the show go on, and perhaps hoping that Will Smith wouldn’t win, was certainly understandable, even if wrong. > > Maybe, just maybe, a Lorne Michaels, who’s had decades of experience with live TV and crazy actors, would have figured out a better solution. But even Michaels didn’t throw [Martin Lawrence](https://snl.fandom.com/wiki/Martin_Lawrence) out of studio 8-H after his infamous monologue. Instead, he let Lawrence continue on the show, whereupon Lawrence called Stuart Smalley/Al Franken an “ass pirate.” That’s pretty much my point. While Monday morning quarterbacking it’s easy to come up with alternate solutions.Try doing it on the fly during a rapidly moving live broadcast. And as you rightly point out there is a chain of command issue. The producer is in charge of the broadcast but not the awards or Academy policy. The Academy president does not control the broadcast or even has the expertise to do so. And a third party has control of the actual results with instructions to keep it away from everyone. I’m hard pressed to come up with a better solution that I would pick in the moment. Rapid war gaming any alternative to just going on with the show would bring up possibilities that would be much worse with little or no time to mitigate the bad outcomes. Now add to that the engrained “the show must go on” attitude you must have to work in the business and the results are what we have. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/492 "2022-04-01T15:44:41Z")
There’s a fake apology that’s been floating around for a few days - and not “fake” as in “insincere.” Some dickhead tweeted out a groveling apology with Chris Rock’s name attached to it. He tried to excuse it as, “This is what I would say if I were him,” but it got passed around a bit as legitimate for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/493 "2022-04-01T15:58:17Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > I’m sure there are mixed messages and confusion (possibly intentional) about who the parties are and who is in charge - seems like a lot of people/entities. Who is “The Academy”, who is “Will Smith” (ha, seriously), is the production people who put on the show, part of the “The Academy.” > > Plausible example, an official Academy members tells Will Smith’s agent that Will Smith needs to leave, and Will Smith doesn’t, in fact, leave. I reasonably interpret that as asking Will Smith to leave and since he ultimately did not, interpret that as refusal. Maybe the agent said no. In the world I live in, if you tell a person’s lawyer, you in fact told that person and there is no real distinction and it’s all perfectly normal to talk like that. I’m sure what actually happened will be some version of this. > > Is Will Packer (who said Will Smith could stay) a part of “The Academy” ? The Academy statement makes no mention of what others told or did not tell Will Smith. I don’t really know, but if told me I could stay, that’s enough for me to rely on. > > It’ll be half-truths and using your own versions and definitions of what you said you did and what you think the reaction to what you said was. This article about the recently aired interview with Will Packer clears things up a bit I think. He spoke to Chris Rock immediately after the assault. He did not speak to Will Smith. Someone from the Academy spoke to Will Smith who refused to leave. Will Packer relayed to the Academy he felt Chris Rock did not want Smith to leave. Packer thought Smith would win and hoped he used it as an opportunity to apologize to Rock. Obviously that didn’t happen. > **[Oscars producer reveals why Academy let Will Smith stay after slap](https://ew.com/awards/oscars/oscars-producer-will-packer-letting-will-smith-stay-chris-rock-slap/?utm_campaign=entertainmentweekly_entertainmentweekly&utm_content=manual&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_term=624710d7175a560001284f02&fbclid=IwAR194T4YiYF-DUq_-Y6ccCDcVVup2B2Zp-CEobPbrqBTe_ZH8EHAViy0vZc)** > > Oscars producer Will Packer explains why he advocated for Will Smith to stay at the 94th Academy Awards after the 'King Richard' star slapped Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/494 "2022-04-01T16:14:34Z")
Rough draft of history getting clearer each day. You’d still want to hear from Will and Chris - we’ve got a lot of people telling us what Will/Chris said or did. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/495 "2022-04-01T16:16:29Z")
We won’t expect any leadership from Smith here (not any time soon). But the Oscars and the Academy needs to make next year the Chris Rock show for how much they failed him. Something should be done to make him whole here. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/496 "2022-04-01T18:07:50Z")
The fake apology [![](https://preview.redd.it/yllx7x3cieq81.jpg?auto=webp&s=510615ff9c50271ca60141e9caf8f56d994dd764) ](https://preview.redd.it/yllx7x3cieq81.jpg?auto=webp&s=510615ff9c50271ca60141e9caf8f56d994dd764) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/497 "2022-04-01T18:13:44Z")
That’s a different fake apology from the one I saw. The other one didn’t have the back-handed insults, and was much more groveling in tone. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/498 "2022-04-01T18:15:16Z")
Jada and Will should NEVER be invited to an award show or after party…ever again! Even if they’re up for an award. For me the worst parts were a much larger man flexing his virility by hitting a much smaller man. I doubt Will would have hit a larger man, to be honest. Calculated, definitely! But the truly shameful part is how Will Smith marched on up there and approached his friend, like everything was fine, then, BAM!, cold cocked him. A slap not a punch, but def calculated and highly nefarious. Meanwhile the guy that got hit came off as professional, mature, and dignified. Smith however achieved the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/499 "2022-04-01T18:17:48Z")
I wonder what would have happened at one of those other venues. Smith would have to squeeze out of his row, go down all those steps, walk around the orchestra to the side stairs, up onto the stage…it made have taken long enough to make him realize he was on an asshole’s mission, and abort. ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826/500 "2022-04-01T18:37:53Z")
I agree. Will Smith’s behavior is closer to punching someone with their back turned and running away than stepping up to someone who supposedly disrespects his wife. Such a weak move. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826.md?page=24) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-will-smith-punched-chris-rock-at-the-oscars-last-night/961826.md?page=26)