Will Smith slapping Chris Rock live during the Academy Awards was juvenile and unwarranted. Chris Rock made a G.I. Jane joke referring to the fact that Will's wife Jada is now bald. This upset him as he charged the stage, slapped Chris then yelled at him to "Keep my wife's name out your fu**ing mouth." This joke was innocent Will was even laughing at it and trust me many people have made much worse jokes at Jada's expense recently. Just earlier Oscar host Regina Hall took a much more direct swipe at their marriage which they didn't seem to mind. Earlier this month, Laverne Cox brought up Jada's entanglement directly to Will and Jada's face without a hint of anger, 50 Cent has posted meme after meme and Jada's boy toy even wrote a whole song about their love affair. Yet it was a G.I. Jane joke, that had nothing to do with their marriage, that triggered him? I get it, I do know she is dealing with alopecia but still after all they've endured that got him so upset he slapped a man at the most prestigious event in all of Hollywood? Furthermore, if a hair joke pissed him off so much then where was all this anger when his wife went on her talk show and admitted to having an "entanglement" with their son's friend?
We all watched as Will set next to Jada holding back tears as she discussed sleeping with another man. Will never showed any anger instead he played it off like it was ok, they were on a break, etc...So being cuckolded for the World to see doesn't make you mad but a joke about your wife starring in a movie does? I think his reaction on that stage shows, obviously Will wasn't as zen as he pretended. He clearly has some misplaced anger issues and instead of embarrassing himself on international television he should go find August Alsina and handle his business.
He may also want to save some of that anger for his wife who put him in that position in the fist place. I want to make it clear I am not encouraging violence against Jada Pinkett-Smith. Will needs to hold his wife accountable and let his anger out on her, in a nonviolent manner. This is her fault and her fault alone, she made the bed and laid in it (multiple times). Her confessions about her sex life, entanglements and ex's (i.e. Tupac) have made Will and their marriage the butt of numerous jokes. Therefore, if Will wants to get at the source of his anger he should look no further than his wife for making him a national laughing stock.
Lastly, kudos to Chris Rock who did a great job "going high" as Michelle Obama would say and didn't engage back with Will though he clearly wanted to do more. In this country too many people try and solve their problems with violence, often times it is not just fists but guns. In any major city you can read about a petty argument or minor traffic incident causing someone to over react and take someone's life. What Will did is dangerous cause it could continue to spur this toxic masculinity among young men, the idea that if their pride is attacked they have to react violently. This will result in more lives lost, so I applaud Chris Rock for being the bigger man and not continue to perpetuate the violence.