Will Smith hit Chris Rock

To me, it's about proportional response.

Rock cracks a joke about Smith's wife? That leaves him fair game for Smith to crack back about Rock and his family. And had Smith left it alone or cracked back verbally, I'd imagine Chris Rock would have come out looking the worse.

But Smith slapped him in response. That escalated things and not only pretty much ruined Smith's achievement later on in the evening but also overshadowed all the other historic (or at least note-worthy) moments and wins at the show.

Just read somewhere that Chris Rock even DID A DOCUMENTARY on HAIR....

At this point - as I've alleged - there are some deep-seated issues between Chris and Will and Jada - deep enough for him to IGNORE his Hair Documentary and STILL go after Jada.

As Willflynne and others have stated, including myself - it doesn't make it right that Will Smith escalated it. But the seeds have been planted over the years and Chris has been a good gardener in that sense.

I'm not doubting your experiences, Rock. I haven't walked in your shoes and neither have you in mine.

What I do think is that your belief is nuanced, at best....with a considerable amount of truth, some stereotypes mixed in as well as outright racism and ignorance.....not from YOU, Rockhound, but in dealing with Hollywood.........

To say that Hollywood hates Republicans / Conservatives would be to ignore some of the movies that have come out of Hollywood. Conservatives / Republicans LOVE to claim Christian-themed movies (and allege that all Democrats are Hellions), (We're NOT, BTW lol),and on that note Hollywood HAS produced some FINE movies.

Here is ONE of those, War Room



Here is Heaven is for Real



and of course Denzel Washington's masterpiece Malcom X



These are just a few, Rock.

I "do" think that Hollywood STILL gets Black experiences WRONG in cinema, though....this would explain Adora's comment on the racism in Hollywood and how - even a few Liberals there - do in fact get it wrong sometimes out of ignorance.

This would perhaps explain the "Hush Hush" nature of my Icon and Rocket post...

"What? You mean a Black man who does Comics (Dwayne McDuffie RIP) ACTUALLY CREATED an ORIGINAL Black Superhero as powerful and UNIQUE as Superman?? And THEN had the NERVE to make him a REPUBLICAN??"

"And then Dwyane had the AUDACITY to actually create DIALOGUE between his two characters - he and Rocket - that addresses Politics AND real-life issues?? As WELL AS fighting Bad Guys??"

"How DARE Dwayne create a character with DIVERSITY OF THOUGHT"........

"We CAN'T let this get out....we CAN'T let this see the light of day.....it could cause Blacks to see themselves DIFFERENT than what we've presented them on TV so far........................"

THIS is the nature of "Hollywood" that I disagree with. Folks KNOW about Icon. DC / WB media does, too.

But folks are hesitant to let his story get out. It may cause Blacks to think differently of ourselves.

"Black Panther" is our Light house right now. While THAT is an OUTSTANDING start there is STILL SO MUCH OUT THERE to explore for the Black Experience.

So no, Rock - I can't agree with you totally, here. There are definitely some nuances involved and AGAIN - I haven't walked in your shoes. But to say that Hollywood hates Republicans and Conservatives I can't agree with totally.

With the exception of Malcolm X, those other movies you named are from independent Christian production companies and weren't exactly mass distributed. Even Malcolm X isn't the most conservative movie of all time but it was a biopic which unless you're willing to rewrite history it's hard to change the man's life. There are some movies that are unintentionally conservative. The Hunger Games for one. V for Vendetta for another. But it's no secret that political conservatives, unless you're a big name like John Voigt, Gary Sinise, Kelsey Grammer, among very few others you're pretty much blackballed from Hollywood. This is not a secret and has been well publicized. Here's an article written by Larry Elder, a black conservative, just the other day on the subject. Political conservatives have to literally be in the closet with their beliefs in fear of being blackballed. https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/03/31/hollywood-face-slaps-conservatives/ I mean, aside from independent Christian companies, give me an example of anything out of Hollywood that paints conservatives in a positive light. I'm all ears.

Rock -

If you could wave a Magic Wand and remake Hollywood as you see fit -

"Presto, Chango! Make Hollywood the way I want it and make it SO!"

How would it look?

Just curious.

Apologies are just words when the damage was already dealt. That reminds me of that one episode on South Park about the oil spill in the ocean and all they said was “sorry” “we’re sorrrrry” “sorrrrrrrry” lol

Don't get me started "I apologize if anyone was offended" which is another way of saying, "I'm sorry you have so sense of humour you wet blanket"

I grew up listening to George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, Eddie Murphy, Andrew Dice Clay, Rodney Dangerfield, Sam Kinison, among other vulgar comedians. These guys would not be able to perform today and believe me, especially when it came to Rodney or Dice, they ripped everyone. I mean, ever watch a celebrity roast? My goodness would they bury some people and no one, even the target, ever got offended at least publicly. I mean, if you thought comedians were tough on Trump then you're not old enough to remember Jimmy Carter. Dan Ackroyd made his career spoofing him on SNL and Dana Carvey's spoof of George HW Bush was so good that Bush and Carvey eventually became friends. The key was you didn't get personal. Now, people are too thin skinned or what's supposed to be satire or parody turns into personal attacks. Now you can get fired from your job if the wrong person hears you tell an off color joke. It's ridiculous. Chris Rock didn't tell that joke to make fun of Jada Pinkett. I'm sure he meant no personal harm with it but it was taken that way(even Will laughed at first until he got "the look" from his wife).

But believe me, go back and watch old Johnny Carson shows(Pluto TV has a Carson channel) and old, or even new, celebrity roasts and think to yourself how that would go over today. What a sad bunch of cupcakes are running the show now.

Carlin I really enjoyed, same with Don Rickles and Dangerfield. It's interesting watching Rickles live, he had an uncanny knack for knowing who was going to be in on the joke and who wouldn't. Although he apparently did get tired of everytime he went out random people who approach him and beg to be insulted. You and I are on opposite ends of the political spectrum, and that's okay. I'm self aware enough to recognize the flaws on the left, I love the circular firing squad metaphor. Liberals are notorious for identifying one weak spot in an ally and "cancelling" someone who might otherwise be on their side.

Some comedians can still get away with it. Jon Stewart has a reputation among a lot of right wing figures as being fair minded. John Bolton in particular was a big cheerleader. I remember one show he was on, and the audience booed him, and Stewart scolded the audience. This horrible idea that political differences require personal animosity really has to pass. I would love to be able to argue ideas in a forum like this, but sadly they almost always degenerate into personal attacks, on both sides. I don't like that the moderators have to delete those threads, but I understand it.

Can you answer me this? Who red pilled Bill Mahr?

It's funny, ever since the mid 90's people have told me I would be a huge fan of Bill Maher. Even putting his politics aside, which are more libertarian than Conservative or Liberal, I always found him to be unpleasant to watch. Even his "documentary" on religion I found to be mean spirited. When it came out, people repeatedly told me to watch it. My view towards religion is this, if it gets people through their day, power to 'em. It's when that religion is being used to craft policy that prevents my family and friends from living as full a life as everyone else, I have have a problem.

He wasn't making a joke about her hair, he was comparing her to a strong female character.

And no. I'm in the south. Black women hair is always short as Jadas and/or is covered with weaves and/or wigs. Not many adult black women around me that has and displays their real hair.

I had nothing nice to say about Will Smith before he committed assault and got away with it, I have nothing nice to say after his fame and fortune gave him license to slap people. If I slapped a celebrity I would subsequently be placed in a jail cell, not receiving viral free publicity from endless memes. I do not like double standards because justice is blind, not deaf and dumb too.

https://www.aol.com/entertainment/denzel-washington-smith-slapping-chris-171124744.html

Nice quote from Denzel.



I'm done piling on the man.

Let's make something clear...

Jada wears her hair like that not out of CHOICE - it's because the Alopecia has caused her hair loss. My assumption is that the Southern Women you speak of wear their hair short by choice.

I'd guess is that if Jada had a choice she wouldn't look like the strong female character in G.I. Jane, Demi Moore.

Chris claims that he didn't know - which is questionable to me, at best - given his interest in Will and Jada over the years and HIS OWN hair documentary



As I've stated before in this thread - I "LOVE" both Chris and Will. They are BOTH gifted in their respective fields.

Sue me for seeing wrong on BOTH sides.

ok, I know she has Alopecia. Jada wasn't offended by the GI Jane comment, she was irritated by it. She didn't have a face of shock or anger, she rolled her eyes out of irritation. Will was laughing at the comment. Jada said something to Will and that is when the stuff happened.

"Would you kindly..."

it was subtle.

it's not like she flipped a wig or anything...