The Smack

Sometimes something happens that doesn’t matter, between people who don’t matter, and yet it grabs the public attention for a day and that’s all people can talk about but you know perfectly well it will be old news by tomorrow, and pretty much entirely forgotten in a month or two, and that’s the only reason I am blogging about it now.
I am referring to Will Smith ‘slapping’ Chris Rock at the Oscar’s last night after Chris told a joke about his wife. I put slap in parentheses because it looked like a closed fist punch to me, and on the other hand because some people are saying it was completely faked, which I wouldn’t put past them, actually, because every person involved is an actor.
I am a big fan of Chris Rock. I think he’s one of the funniest people around. I am also a pretty big fan of Will Smith. He was in Hitch, and Hancock, and that film where he was an organ donor, and lots of other stuff. Some crap, for sure, but generally entertaining, enough so that if I see he’s in a film, I’ll at least give it a shot. Jada Pinkett Smith is a lower tier actor, but I am currently enjoying her as Fish Mooney in Gotham, who (after dying once and then reanimated by Dr. Strange) can get anybody to do anything she wants just by touching them. That may have been what happened last night, because Will Smith laughed at the moment the joke was told, before walking up to the stage and smacking Chris Rock, who reacted as well as can be expected. Brushed it off and went on with the act.
The joke? O.K., Jada Pinkett Smith has alopecia, which is a fancy way of saying she’s going bald, and she has been public about this, and shaved her head, which seems a reasonable choice, and Chris Rock said “I look forward to seeing you in G.I. Jane II.” It was kind of funny. Some people online have called it bullying and said Rock was punching down, but I don’t see it that way. She is well known, famous and rich, and was attending a gala night at the Oscars. Playing the victim card is bullshit.
That’s how I feel about it. If you feel differently, that’s O.K. It doesn’t really matter, and we’ll have forgotten about it in a week.