The Oscars

[Jon]

Well, no one else brought it up so felt I had to. Will Smith, what the hell were you playing at? I used to like his stuff. Tainted now.

Note the complete hypocrisy of the woke crowd at the Oscars. If a white guy slapped a black guy, there would be outrage. If a guy slapped a woman, there would be outrage. But black guy on black guy? No biggie. Is that not both sexist and racist, based on civilised standards? I checked CNN and saw them present what happened but zero opinion on it at all. Why the silence, CNN? Why would Slapper-Smith not be immediately and forcibly removed after such a violent attack on the host while on stage? I am shocked!

It tells me that those who attend and run the Oscars have zero values at all. Instead, they just spout a bunch of B.S. to look good, saying one thing but doing another. To have someone violently attack the host and then minutes later lavish that thug with praise is beyond the pale.

Your thoughts?

 

[pbaldy]

I didn't watch (never do) but my step-daughter showed my wife and I a youtube video of it. We first thought it a funny pre-planned bit, until the swearing started. At first it seemed an over-reaction to a joke that may have been in poor taste. Apparently Jada suffers from alopecia, making the joke in poor taste at best, and perhaps explaining Smith's reaction (explaining, not justifying).

In any case, Will should have talked to the host later, or explained their feelings in an interview. Jada didn't seem amused by the joke either.

 

[AccessBlaster]

The Oscars have been slipping dramatically in the rating over the last few years in part because of politics / wokeness. After the open hand slap went viral the Oscars were temporarily relevant once again. I guess we can look forward to more shenanigans like this in the future.

My first thought was this was more black-on-black crime.

 

[NauticalGent]

My daughter told me about it along with some other gossip about the Smiths (infidelities). I watched to unedited version of it and was not impressed. Will Smith even laughed initially until Jada gave him an eat-death stare, then we felt the need to defend her honor.

Again, not impressed...

 

[Jon]

I don't want politics embedded in entertainment.

This.

 

[Jon]

I'm sort of on Will Smith's side, albeit a bit uncomfortably ....

How about criminalising free speech and decriminalising violence? Just an idea...

Side note: Have you ever been to live stand-up? A large part of the evening involves the comedian taking the piss out of the audience members.

 

[Jon]

There is nothing wrong with feeling strongly about something. I get that. But to attack someone because you did not like their joke? How about if your wife said something you really didn't like...do you feel you have the right to strike her? There are certain boundaries we should not cross, and physical violence comes into that. What if Will Smith struck a female comic on stage, would you feel differently?

How about if someone made a joke about climate change, and a climate alarmist took great offence and attacked the comic? They felt very strongly about climate change and so struck out. Is that ok? What about a vegan who saw you munching on a steak...they lunged at you, clawing at your face. Fine with that?

 

[AccessBlaster]

Kevin Costner gave the best presentation last night he appeared to have it memorized and delivered it on point.

 

[NauticalGent]

Someone comes between me and my steak, they better be prepared for a long night because I aint going down without a fight...beer is on that list too...

 

[NauticalGent]

But Will didn't see it as a joke, that's the essence of it, he saw a personal attack on his wife, and did the manly thing and defended her.

My wife and I had this same conversation this morning. I thought Will was more in the right even though when you put hands on someone, you have lost unless you are defending yourself in a like manner.

My wife's point was that She had made a public announcement about her condition, made videos about shaving her head and then sported the Chrome-Dome look at a public event instead of wearing a wig. It set me on my heels a little. Where is the balance between "family is off limits" and "Public figures are fair game"?

 

[Steve R.]

I didn't watch, but based on the fact that Will Smith made the headlines, it would seem that the Oscars must have run-out anti-conservative hate diatribes to virtue signal how woke they are.

A remaining question was this "assault" planned to generate some media hysteria since there was apparently nothing (political) else to rag-about?
One of Hollywood's proverbial sayings is "bad" news is better than no news.

 

[Jon]

But Will didn't see it as a joke, that's the essence of it,

I see it as we are talking about the same thing, just semantics. Chris is a comedian, telling jokes. Will didn't like his joke, and turned to violence. Imagine a society where people are allowed to assault each other because they take offence. Nowadays, everybody is offended about something. It would be chaos.

To me, it appears that the question under debate is: "Is it ok to violently assault the host of a show if you do not like what they say?" I say, "No"! The alternative is to legalise violence.

 

[Jon]

Where is the balance between "family is off limits" and "Public figures are fair game"?

How about if Trump went around assaulting CNN journalists?

 

[Darrell]

How about if someone made a joke about climate change,

I'd definitely take it the wrong way and slap Greta Thunberg

 

[NauticalGent]

When you ae the POTUS, all bets are off. Unless you are Andrew Jackson - then you just do what the hell you want!

 

[Jon]

So do I. But the problem is, in those types of situations, you Don't Think, you react instinctively.

And that is what criminal punishment is for.

Apparently, most violent assaults by women are crimes of passion. An ex of mine told me that. She was a criminal lawyer. Another interesting fact was that she said in London, most crimes are committed while someone is high on drugs, something like 70% of all cases. By drugs, she might be including alcohol in that.

Edit: Harvey Weinstein: "Sorry m'Lord, I was just doing what came natural to me!"

 

[NauticalGent]

 

[ColinEssex]

Chris Rock is a foul mouthed non funny comedian. His routines are absolutely disgusting, littered with non funny use of the worst language. He is banned by several British TV stations.
If you are a clever comedian like for example the British comedian Bob Hope, its all about the delivery and timing, Bob was a master. Anyone can stand on stage and spew foul language, that is not funny it's disgusting.
I'm glad Will Smith slapped the low IQ idiot.
As for the predictable Oscars, anyone black, disabled or arousing sympathy will win. Its boring, irrelevant and patronising, how the yanks can like it is beyond me.
Col

 

[AccessBlaster]

I never knew men slapping men was a thing. Smith had time to wind up and deck him but chose to slap him.

 

[AngelSpeaks]

I'm Italian American. We would have wacked Rock.