The 2022 Oscars Ceremony: Will Smith Wasn’t Wrong

By: Mckenzie Gerdes

The Oscars proved quite eventful this year with the slap heard ‘round the world—and by the world, I of course mean TikTok.

Within minutes of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock, TikTok videos of the event went viral, memes were made, and major news channels covered the incident. Almost as fast as the video clip was available on the internet, so too were vehement convictions over which man was right, blazing through comment sections, online articles, and celebrity interviews.

Most viewers took Chris Rock’s side, because he was the one who received a pretty powerful slap to the face. However, to properly determine who was right and who was wrong, one must take a step back and look at the situation from an informed perspective.

The Oscars ceremony is a place for millionaire celebrities to give sermons and golden awards to each other while thinking that the world deeply cares, though according to a drastic decline in viewership in recent years, the world doesn’t care that much.

This brings us to our first question: Was the slap planned? Because of the ridiculousness of the incident, I initially believed it was all staged in order to get the world looking at the Oscars again. It’s common for celebrities to create fake feuds to fuel ratings and secure paychecks.

However, due to the more serious nature of the Academy Awards, it is more likely that this incident was genuine. Not only that, Will Smith did apologize to the Academy during his Oscar speech. Time will tell if this was real or not, but for now, let's examine why Will Smith was justified on that fateful night.

Reason #1: Chris Rock wasn’t thoughtful. Chris Rock joked about Jada Pinkett Smith in relation to a character from a movie who shaves her head to be a Navy SEAL. Jada Pinkett Smith did not shave her head for this reason, but because she has an autoimmune disorder called alopecia areata, which causes a person’s hair to fall out in clumps. Someone who doesn’t have a medical condition, carelessly joking about someone who does have a medical condition, is not okay, and it's never going to be okay. The reason for this is because medical conditions are already difficult enough to experience, but to have someone joke about it can also make it feel painful and shameful. Chris Rick was not thoughtful of Jada Pinkett Smith or her experience, and he shouldn’t have made a careless and unfunny joke about it.

Reason #2: Will Smith reacted quickly out of love. Will Smith acted out of emotion for someone he loves who was hurt in that moment. It may not have been the best reaction, but it happened nonetheless. When Will Smith later went on to win an Oscar, he said in his speech, “I want to apologize to the Academy. I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees.” Chris Rock did not press charges that night and does not intend to press charges.

In addition to that first apology, Will Smith also posted on Instagram, “a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally,” going on to say, “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris.” This was not enough for the Academy, and Will Smith officially resigned from being a part of it, following the event.

All this to say, Will Smith apologized in his speech and after the Oscars, so I think they should let Smith back into the Academy and get over it. Chris Rock didn’t press charges, so everyone should let bygones be bygones, and move on with their lives. Perhaps the best move for the Oscars to make in the future would be to cut out jokes entirely, focusing on giving out awards, and thus cutting the show’s runtime in half and making it more watchable.