That would go over very very very badly.
Yes, well, he did all his raping in private. Will Smith make the Academy look bad, he really should have just beaten Rock unconscious with a tire iron backstage, that’s the sort of behavior we’re OK with.
And then maybe they would also have to revoke a lot more awards. As I said, I’m good with that.
But also, there is a very substantive difference between committing crimes in some other context as opposed to committing a crime right there at the ceremony, in front of everyone, a kind of physical attack on the academy itself. I think it’s a very reasonable distinction to make.
The difference is that one impacted the Academy’s promotional broadcast, and the other didn’t.
If the Academy wants to make that argument, they are free to, but they will be inevitably linked to the idea that they’re OK with powerful industry executives drugging and raping little girls, as long as they don’t make the Academy look bad while they’re doing it.
Frankly, if THIS is what it took to make the Academy think “Hm. Maybe we shouldn’t have celebrated the fugitive rapist that one time” they should be ashamed of themselves.
And that has increased their profits and power by leveraging interest of some portion of the public in those things.
I don’t have to click the links to know what sort of jokes they are and have been. He in particular has been publicly humiliated lately, following his wife’s decision to share about their open marriage. Rebel Smith at BAFTA, a joke earlier in the evening at the Oscars …
I can make up good stories.
He apparently is a man who grew up seeing his mother abused by his father. His wife has on multiple occasions decided to “share” with the public information that most men would be very unhappy having broadcast. I think most men would experience their wife publicly broadcasting that you are not quite hitting the mark with her sexually as abusive.
He did not make the decision to share those things, she did. But he had to smile at the “jokes” …
The story of an man who witnessed physical abuse of his mother as a child in a relationship with someone who is emotionally abusive of them, finally having a target to displace that anger at, to hit as he saw his father hit his mother when he was angry … of course out of love? That’s good Hollywood melodrama shit right there people.
Is that story accurate? Who knows? Pretty sure though that the assault was not much about the specific thing Mr Rock said than lots of other messed up shit going on in Will Smith’s head and between him and his wife.
And in that Hollywood melodrama story the main character’s actions are understood but not excused.
The tragedy of that melodrama is that if Mr Smith in that spur of the moment, biased by childhood programming and primed by the nature of his marriage, calculated that hitting another man in defense of his wife would testify to his threatened masculinity or assuage guilt he has expressed for sitting by as his mother was abused, then he miscalculated badly. The “jokes” about him will be much more intense and meaner.
My prediction is that the couple is separated again within the year and divorced soon after that. At some point Mr Smith actually makes a real apology to Mr Rock which demonstrates better understanding and some actual effort to be restorative. Maybe then he will be deserving of some respect. Right now he remains pathetic even if my Hollywood movie pitch is accurate.
I don’t think they should revoke the award. The shame that the Academy has for have not only allowed him to go on the stage, but to self justify himself in an overlong rambling speech, which got ovations, is with no take-backs. Dismissing him from the Academy is weak sauce but the most they should do.
Actually, no, that’s not the only difference.
If I assaulted my co-worker at the office, that’s one thing.
If I were charged with assault while drinking at a bar on my own time, that’s another thing.
My employer would be perfectly justified in firing me for the first but not the second.
In this case, Chris Rock and Will Smith were attending an Academy event as members and guests of the Academy in order to do Academy business. It’s more than easy to justify taking action in this situation and not in a situation that happened somewhere else at another time.
There are a lot of things to be ashamed of in our society. This would hardly be the first, or even the worst.
I’m sure if they really tried, their lawyers could find an ineligibility reason for anyone.
Dseid - have you read his recent memoir? My wife did, largely because she likes co-author Mark Manson.
I did not read it, but spoke with my wife about it quite a bit - and then we watched some old Fresh Prince, the new Bel Air, and talked about him and his family some more.
You sorta present him as a victim of his circumstances, whereas my impression is more that he’s been VERY driven, very successful, and very public and unapologetic about his views whether conventional or not. My wife thinks less of him after having read the memoir, and I think less of him after discussing it with her.
Yes, slap for slap, the one done on company grounds is more important than the one done in a bar. This isn’t the comparison of two misdemeanor assaults. This is your employer saying “we take the safety of our workforce seriously” while a lady in billing says “WTF, you have me sitting next to this guy who is an unapologetic fugitive rapist, you knew he was a rapist before hiring him and giving him the cube next to mine.” The company can’t very well say “he didn’t rape anyone HERE did he?”
It is a terrible look. Beyond terrible. If they’re going to strip someone of an Oscar, or make someone ineligible for any future Oscar over personal behavior, a slap is not where to start, regardless of where it happened. Don’t invite him back, if he is ever up for another award, let someone get it for him.
I disagree 100 percent. If the incident happens right here, right now, on our time and at our event, that’s a perfectly reasonable place to start. Anything else that comes up, comes up, and you deal with those issues.
As I said, if that means re-evaluating a whole bunch of other awards, then I’m good with that. But committing assault right in front of everybody, at my event, on my time. Absolutely perfectly 100 percent reasonable place to start.
He implies, we infer.
I know it’s a bit boring to listen to but they explain every year how the winners are tabulated and how Price Waterhouse keeps it secret from everyone. No one in the building beyond the couple of PW employees know who won. The Academy would have to go against their own rules and open the envelope backstage and decide what to do with the clock ticking. There would be no need to have a list of 2nd and 3rd place. There really is no way to change it on the fly.
You have a broadcast watched by 16 million Americans and I don’t know how many worldwide. It’s live. It’s hard enough getting everything to go as planned let alone deal with something like this. So while keeping all the balls in the air, they tried to get him to leave. He refused. They had to decide if they would force him to leave. They had to decide what to do with his award. They had to decide if any actions that deviated from just going on with the show would just make things worse. And they had minutes to decide. I can’t say they made a bad decision. Once Smith refused to leave all outcomes would have been some degree of bad.
I’m surprised shows like this don’t have some taped segments on standby for incidents like this. They could have aired a three minute clip about digital matte artists and a bunch of commercials while Smith was dragged from his seat kicking and screaming. Then an audience full of actors could just act like nothing happened. People would still know what happened but they would be spared the actual spectacle.
They let him give the longest rambling acceptance speech in their history too (2:30 OVER 5 MINUTES instead of the 45 second limit). They didn’t even cut his mic with the dreaded playing-off music. They really enabled him and his self serving narrative.
I’m sure they game plan a lot. Over the years different weird things have happened. They may have even headed off other bad things before they got to the air. They may even have a plan for “biggest movie star in the world who we sat in the front row goes crazy and starts a ruckus.” They might not have thought through “biggest movie star in the world who we sat in the front row goes crazy starts a ruckus then sits calmly back in his seat to watch the rest of the broadcast.”
They plan for things that they anticipate. They have had problems in the past getting people off the stage. So they have a plan for that. I don’t think they’ve ever had a member of the audience get up on stage and assault a presenter.
In addition, this year’s presentation was configured differently, with some attendees sitting on the same level as the presenter. So, Will Smith didn’t have to climb on stage; he just walked up to Chris Rock. This probalby created opportunities they didn’t consider.
All I’m saying is that they should have a way to let the show go on while they clean up an unexpected mess; whether that mess is a technical difficulty, a medical emergency, an envelope malfunction, or…Will Smith.
I am kind of surprised that when he refused to leave they didn’t remind him of the 45 second time limit and stick to it.