Last night was an example of immature behavior by grown men.
Chris Rock is a comedian and the norm for the hosts of the Oscars has been to make fun of people in the audience. Amy Schumer made fun of Leonardo DiCaprio. Regina Hall referenced Kim Kardashian in a derogatory way. And Chris Rock made fun of Jada Pinkett-Smith.
It’s not known if Chris Rock knew about Jada’s hair condition. I certainly didn’t. But his comment about her starring in GI Jane 2 was not warmly received by Jada or Will. At first, Will laughed. But then what Chris Rock said soaked in and Will was pissed. He might have been embarrassed that he himself laughed at the joke. He might have been reacting to Jada’s reaction. Who knows!?!
So where did things go wrong?
First, roasting people has always had this weird place in Hollywood. Maybe it’s to keep people grounded. People in Hollywood can act like they live on a different plane of existence sometimes. Maybe it’s just to have a laugh at someone’s expense. But mean jokes, in my opinion, need to be stopped. There’s plenty to laugh about in this world without going after people on a personal level. So that’s on Chris Rock.
But then there was the aftermath. In life, people are going to say things that piss you off. They might say things about the people you love which will piss you off even more. But hitting someone because they said something you didn’t like is not OK. And this was not a spur of the moment action. Will got up out of his chair, walked slowly up on the stage, and swung at Chris Rock’s face. He had moments between his reaction and his behavior to make a better choice.
To those who say that Will did the right thing, I beg to differ. Will is an intelligent man who has done loads of self-help work. He records his own videos offering advice to others on how to be a better human being. Will, take your own advice. Be better. Do better. Hitting is not the answer.
Now, Will has created a situation where this joke about his wife will be seen over and over and over. It will be talked about non-stop for at least a week if not more. If Will didn’t go up on stage, very few people would know about Chris Rock’s joke. Will made the problem bigger.
Two grown men acting immaturely. What a mess.
What can we learn from this whole debacle?
-Don’t make fun of people, you don’t know their whole story
-When people piss you off, carefully consider your response
-Your emotional behaviors can make things worse
That’s my take on the situation. What’s yours?
With Heart,
Coach Sheri
P.S. Will Smith’s son tweeted “And That’s How We Do It”. Great. Now Jaden has been shown by his father what to do when you disagree with someone…HIT.
