After Will Smith physically abused Chris Rock and the Oscars people did nothing but silently approve of said abuse, Will Smith seems to have issued an 'apology':
I'll quote others who have put this succinctly.
https://twitter.com/DinaEastwood/status/1508621778125406209
https://twitter.com/_MariaPetrova/status/1508648245962104835
One tweet said a lot of things about what happened yesterday.
https://twitter.com/JNelsonLDF/status/1508293347068293124
Hadley Freeman pointed out a couple of great things in an article she wrote after having physically been at the Oscars.
So, everyone acted as if everything was totally normal, with Chris Rock having to present an award 10 seconds after Will Smith slapped him on stage. It was the weirdest instance of gaslighting I had ever experienced – until half an hour later, when Smith won the best actor Oscar, and implied in his speech that his attack was all part of God’s plan and he had merely been “protecting” his family. Shame he didn’t bother to tell Rock what God’s plan had been about how to protect his face.
She's right. This is gaslighting, and it is larger than Chris Rock's experience. This is telling bullies that, hey, you're fine, just issue a bullshit apology and don't care about it. You're home free.
This is also important to consider:
But as I was in the theatre when it happened, and not a million miles away from Rock, I would like to point out a few oddities about the whole thing.
1. It’s quite weird that Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith were fine with the host Regina Hall joking about their open marriage early in the evening, but not with Rock joking about Pinkett Smith’s hair, no?
2. To all the people saying Rock’s jokes were dickish, it’s a good thing you didn’t hear Schumer completely roasting everyone else in the room earlier in the evening, and none of them slugged her in the face.
3. No one in the auditorium knew at first whether this was all a joke or not, and nor, it seemed, did Smith. I watched his reaction to Rock’s joke and at first he laughed. Then he saw how annoyed his wife was, then he realised the whole audience saw that because the camera was on her, then he got angry and got up to slap Rock. However anyone wants to spin it, he went on quite an emotional journey.
Yes, Smith laughed at the joke that Rock pulled about his own wife, so why didn't he abuse himself?
This is partly why his 'apology' is probably a lie.
Joseph Harker has written succinctly and brilliantly about what happened:
This was the biggest night of Smith’s career – the night he should have been revelling in the plaudits after winning an Oscar for his brilliant performance as Richard Williams, the father of tennis superstars Venus and Serena. His speech should have been an acceptance of that honour, and a tribute to that remarkable family, in front of both sisters, who were in the audience. But it came half an hour after that slap, so all the audience were thinking was: “Oh my God, why did he do that?” And, in a hole, Smith immediately attempted to justify his actions by saying, “Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family.” He went on to talk about having to “protect people”, including, he said, the female actors he’d worked with on set.
What a self-serving display. “To protect” does not mean “to slap someone on their behalf”. This attempt to give violence a bogus morality is at the heart of so much crime. Morgues are filled with the victims of this kind of “protection”.
Smith went on to say: “I look like the crazy father – just like they said about Richard.” Smith has proved himself to be no Richard Williams – a man who faced extraordinary abuse, ridicule and violence while coaching his daughters – and who never once responded in kind. Evoking his name to justify his own actions was the lowest of blows by Smith. Smith’s win should have been an opportunity to highlight Williams’ superhuman drive and self-belief, but instead has become a story about a man’s inability to control his emotions.
I’m sad that, at the pinnacle of his career, Smith has trashed his own reputation. I’m sadder still that, in their own moment of glory, he chose to taint the Williams family too.
Joseph Harker https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/28/will-smith-slapping-chris-rock-actor-serena-williams
Here we are, a day after, and an ultra–wealthy movie star 'gets away' with physically abusing another human being, simply because of his wealth and social standing with some people.
Remember the words of Ursula K. Le Guin:
We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable – but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.
In other words: Smith might believe that he can behave any way he wants, without consequence. We choose how to interpret his actions as well as act on those.
So far, all Smith has done is behave despicably and abominably, even after he struck another person in front of millions. That's his legacy. Remember the Oscar people, who did nothing and then chose to award him.
All awards shows are, at their core, irrelevant; We need no awards to tell us whether an artist is good or not. Sure, a ceremony can be a fun thing, like a birthday party, and they validate nothing. The Oscars awards have since long carried the indelible stench of sexism, racism, and extreme discrimination. I care as little about the Oscars as I care about Hitler's supposed love of Richard Wagner; the Oscars is a self–aggrandising spectacle that is proven to be run by insane people.