Posted in: Comics | Tagged: chris rock, jada pinkett smith, oscare, will smith

Comics Industry Reacts To… Will Smith And Chris Rock At The Oscars

Will Smith hit Oscar host Chris Rock on stage, after Chris made a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith's hair. And that is the big story that Brits are waking up to. The one news story that the whole world is obsessed with right now. And not the situation in Ukraine, though some folk are making weird parallels. What seemed to be initially taken in good humour, then saw Smith stride from the front of the audience across the stage, hit/slap Rock, and sit back down before shouting "keep my wife's name out of your f-cking mouth" twice. He apologized when receiving the Best Actor Award, but later in the night was more appreciative of the applause he got for the incident. And the internet went wild. Here are some comic book industry reactions on social media, peppered with a few from other folks as well.

Ron Marz: Sometimes both people are in the wrong.

Gail Simone: Wait, what just happened. Did that really just happen? Holy sh-t. Man, this just isn't funny. Starting from Rock's joke.

Alex Paknadel: Absolutely not condoning violence of any kind (except against Nazis, obviously), but what happened last night is indicative of a wider cultural shift. Somehow, suddenly, comedians – Lear's "all-licens'd fool[s]"- aren't protected by the stage anymore. I don't know what that means

Jimmy Palmiotti: We now know who not to have a celebrity roast for.

Joe Glass: Oh wow, trust the one time I don't watch the #Oscars2022 something crazy happens

Rob Liefeld:  WOW. I watched it in real time but that sh-t was crazy!!!… This is the most nuts anything I've seen on live action.

Jaden Smith: And That's How We Do It

Christos Gage: Following that altercation, I'm being told Will Smith's Mom got scared and has now told him he's moving in with his auntie and uncle in Bel Air.

Zack Bornstein: BREAKING: Will Smith Being Sent to Live with Aunt and Uncle in Bel-Air

Tom Ward: Will Smith's momma flying him right back out to his aunty and uncle in Bel-air again RN. She's scared.

John Reppion: The Will Smith thing is 100% a deliberate set up.

Luke Keith: I know #theslap is trending but Chris Rock took it like a champ and pressed on. How about a #RockSolid round of applause?@chrisrock

Charlotte (Fullerton) McDuffie: This ^ Just watched the uncut Australian TV clip: #ChrisRock handled that EXCEPTIONALLY well.

Andy Khouri: Astonishing that Rock got slapped before Gervais tbh

Ryan Stegman: If a million people retweet this I will slap @zdarsky at the next Eisner ceremony repeatedly

Judd Apatow (now deleted):  He could have killed him. That's pure out of control rage and violence. They've heard a million jokes about them in the last three decades. They are not freshman in the world of Hollywood and comedy. He lost his mind.

Tee Franklin:  Oh Judd deleted that bullsh-t take huh?… I would too with 17.3K QRTs

Amanda Deibert: Okay but what if we just acknowledged that mocking people's looks/disability/diseases is cheap and not actually smart comedy and stopped punching down that way?

Frank Cho: Wow. Will Smith assaults Chris Rock live on-stage after he makes a tame joke about Will Smith's wife's short hair. Three take aways from this encounter:
1) Will Smith can't take a joke.
2) Chris Rock can take a punch.
3) Will Smith is gonna get roasted on the internet for his violent reaction.

Marc Andreyko: will smith can go and take that oscar and shove it up his humorless, arrogant ass. odds that WB announces they are not pursuing an I Am Legend sequel now?

Joe Jusko: I saw it after the fact, but the Will Smith thing is a perfect example of why I've lost all interest in watching the Oscars.
I grew up on them. My parents looked forward to them every year and I continued that tradition for at least 50 years. It was once one of the only places you actually got to see movie stars in "real life". It was an event for me. As social media expanded and movie stars became more ubiquitous and vocal I realized I didn't really want to hear them talk offscreen and actually disliked many of them. I stopped watching. It wasn't special for me, anymore.
I really like Will Smith, always have. I've seen every movie he's made. I haven't seen King Richard yet, but I plan to. He's a hugely talented, entertaining guy, but tonight he turned the Oscars, once the classiest awards show in existence, into the WWE version of the MTV Music Awards.
People have lost restraint, they've lost composure, they've lost decorum. I sound old, but it's really sad to see.

Mia Farrow: It was just a joke. Jokes are what Chris Rock does. Always has been edgy. This was a mild joke for him. And i love GI Jane

Chris Conroy: Here is as big a Take as I will offer: It's probably time to accept the fact that after the last several years, this is just how messy American society is now

Mark Walters: Yep, it was real. So many questions. Does this get Will banned? Will Chris Rock sue? Just crazy.

Cheryl Lynn Eaton: Honestly, if Will Smith has launched a new era of people actually thinking about what they say lest they get popped in the mouth? Might be worth it?

Eric Jones: Seems like Chris Rock should've probably not commented on Jada Pickett-Smith's hair, and Will Smith should've probably refrained from physically attacking him on live TV for it. This feels like one of those "everybody sucks here" scenarios. YIKES.

Mark Brooks: Remember artists- the next time someone comes to your table thinking they can talk their bullsh-t without you doing anything, use your non-drawing hand when you Will Smith them. You've still got sketches to do.

50 Cent: B!tch don't you ever play with me. LOL

Ashley Lynch: It's really easy to say that violence isn't the answer, but also why the hell does Chris Rock get to degrade Jada in front of 10 million people and face no consequence? Oh yeah, cause women are just expected to take that sh-t with a smile.

Andy Khouri: I think maybe the "NEVER any excuse for violence" idea is not really something I totally agree with. There's violence and then there's violence, you know? Like maybe teenage f-ckface Donnie Trump could have had the sh-t kicked out of him a little? Might have changed the world.

Tom Feister: I think there are moments when violence is unavoidable. This was not one of those moments. As for Trump, imagine how the 2016 race would have changed had Ted Cruz smacked Trump for saying such terrible things about his wife and father. Trump would have been over in that moment.

Kiel Phegley: I'm not sure what I feel about it all except that I'm pretty sure it's possible to both feel what Will did was inappropriate while also not feeling bad for Rock.

Andy Khouri: Yeah. This one is messy. I'm not passing judgment either way.

Grace Randolph: #WillSmith wins #BestActor. He is still clearly very shaken by what was said about Jada, his choice to stand up for her & the abuse that goes on today of public figures, people of color & more. He will surely speak on this more all week, as will others… As this is discussed, I think it's important to remember the bottom line is that violence is not acceptable. I'm sure Smith wishes he handled that better & I hope he makes that clear ASAP

Conan O'Brien: Just saw the Will Smith slap. Anyone have a late night show I can borrow just for tomorrow?

Bob Fingerman: It's a shame that the most repugnant moment of the Oscars was also its only interesting one… I will have to add that the second most repugnant moment was Smith's acceptance speech, which was pretty much a case study in narcissism, megalomania, and messiah complex.

Bill Sienkiewicz: I actually saw it as a news flash- with the video . No mention of any winners ; just the slap .
Can't wait to see how right wing media runs with this . There is already enough crap about out of touch hollyweird elites

Bob Fingerman: I could just as easily see them seeing this as finally Hollywood getting in touch with the American gestalt.

Bill Sienkiewicz: normally would agree but but I have my doubts because right wing and darker skin color never seem to work well together

Chris Conroy:  Here is as big a Take as I will offer: It's probably time to accept the fact that after the last several years, this is just how messy American society is now. Everyone's wounded, nothing's healing, every unspoken code of social cohesion has been violated, there's no map for these territories, and people are just stumbling through it all slamming into other people, the end. The Oscars have always been about putting on a brave face and putting on the smoothest public performance you can and this, I'm afraid, is the actual level of "keeping it together" we can manage collectively

Jody Houser: This, sadly.

Ibrahim Moustafa: I could be in the green room at the Laugh Factory with the biggest comedians on earth, and the second they insult my wife they are no longer comedians, they are people who insulted my wife… Shoutout to the people taking this in bad faith, like I'm saying "I'd fight them all!" There's a line between when someone is being "a comedian" & "an asshole", & it's different for everyone. The notion that comedians can say whatever they want b/c they're jesters is specious

Colleen Doran: I finally got my internet up and running again just in time for me to say: No Comment.

Amy Mebberson: I had zero access to Oscar telecast all night so this is all Twitter looks like to me right now…

Brian Truitt: This is an insane sequence. Will appears to laugh at the joke as Jada rolls her eyes, then seconds later Will walks up, all of a sudden angry. (I want camera angles!) If not for the tears in the acceptance speech, I'd still be wondering if this was a work.

Barbara VanDenburgh: Dying for a camera angle of the Will/Jada exchange between the punchline and the slap

Brian Truitt: Right. That would tell you everything. And again, the security just letting that happen is PUZZLING.

Barbara VanDenburgh: I mean, I would find it very hard to make the call to rush security on Will Smith. I get the freeze. I would bet they probably thought it was a bit, too. I'm curious to know if that joke was workshopped in rehearsals and if so, how many people signed off on it?

Brian Truitt: Good point. And Chris Rock just stood there as he approached. If that wasn't scripted, I feel like he might back away a little? I tell you what, I've never tuned into a Red Table Talk before but I'm all about the next one. WELL PLAYED

Barbara VanDenburgh: Over/under on Will Smith and Chris Rock making amends and co-presenting Best Picture next year?

Brian Truitt: Oh we're in for a whole moment with those two. Like @adityasood pointed out, they'll be doing Doritos commercials by the Super Bowl.

Tess Fowler: Lotta people out here anxious to see a black man cuffed and handed over to the LAPD but I'm damn sure if it was Pitt or Leo…. THAT'S ALL I'M SAYING. I wound up with a fever earlier this evening so I'm taking my ass to bed. I have a commission to finish in the morning.

Aaron Sparrow: Despite everything, you have to allow Will Smith his emotions tonight. I mean, tonight's Oscars featured the first hit he's been involved in for years!

Mark Brooks: Every Oscar-nominated/winning writer, director, actor, producer, composer, editor, and key grip is pissed as hell right now because ain't no one remembering ANYTHING about this year's #oscars except the slap heard 'round the world.

Rob Williams: I got in one little fight and my mom got scared….

Andy Khouri: Whew. Now he won't have to move with his Auntie and blah blah blah

Danny Lore: I think when it comes to a lot of isms, a lot of you need to come to terms with the fact that rarely if ever has being kind and meek and using your words EVER gone any distance in solving them. MLK was non violent but it was people viewing the violence done upon him that moved the needle. And he was still murdered and hated. No ism has been erased by respectability.

Arune Singh: The myth of "appropriateness" has been sold hard. Bullies don't stop because you ask them nicely.

Danny Lore: They never have! And yet we continue to pretend that sitting in the pain while you and your loved ones keep getting bullied is the wave! The wild reactions to this have really made me less conflicted than i was originally tbh

Arune Singh: I've never understood humor that found laughs in the things that make us "different" from the North American "normal." Ive excuse a lot of humor about my health at my expense (for better or worse) but if you came for my wife? That's a whole other thing.

Danny Lore: Also making a joke ABOUT YOURSELF isn't comparable to making a joke about someone else on International tv ever

Arune Singh: 100%. Like you said, the reactions to this have made a me a lot less conflicted – especially given the limited discourse about the shiftiness of Rock's joke. And I guess, I gotta ask – why did he even need to comment on Jada's appearance? And why is the expectation that he gets to do it without consequence?

Danny Lore: I'm so heated thinking about it

Jody Houser: Yeah, joking about someone's appearance that's illness-related is definitely out of line. But assault is SO very much not the right response.

Nick Gonzo:  The future is nuts. I just woke up to the news the Fresh Prince of Bel Air smacked Chris Rock on live TV for making a joke about the 1996 GI Jane film. The fact I had to GOOGLE what the joke meant probably means that its not worth slapping a man over. I just thought Chris Rock was calling Will Smith's wife a sh-t actor.

Chloe Green: The joke wasn't aimed at you, Nicholas. Will Smith didn't slap someone for you.

Nick Gonzo: I don't really condone the slapping of comedy hosts at TV events at all. I hate to say it but whilst I would stage invade to diffuse the situation differently, I wouldn't slap Chris Rock for you.

Chloe Green: Maybe the execution was wrong. But he made the joke about a disease, something Jada has clearly struggled with, she looked absolutely gutted when he said it. Also Chris Rock is a sh-t person.

Nick Gonzo: Oh yeah, no, the man said a sh-tty thing belittling a woman's fight with a medical illness. But he slapped a dude at the Oscars. I feel there are better ways he could have taken him down. He's Will Smith.

Jeffrey Brown: Chris Rock deserve to getting knocked the F-ck out

Veronica Jane: If Chris Rock made a joke about my wife on international television I'd probably hit him in the f-cking face too.

M Kupperman: I thought the craziest thing you'd see at the Oscars was Jared Leto riding on someone else's shoulders

This is just the beginning… from this perspective across the pond in the light of day, it looks like Will initially laughed at the joke, such that it was, realised Jada wasn't happy, was angry at himself, and that spurred him onto the stage. It's less about the joke, more about our inability to process cognitive dissonance, self-hatred and shame…

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