Real Lawyer Reacts to Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock 

Two wrongs don't make a right. Control your words. Control your actions. The end.

Hell no it wasn’t justified. If people were allowed to slap people for hurting their feelings we would be slapping everyone every day

Both men were in the wrong. Chris Rock for a joke at Jada’s expense but Will was also in the wrong for smacking him.

@@CrystalBrightz yeah but it’s also a joke if you can’t take a joke don’t go to a comedy even if it is the Oscar’s

No! What is he, 13?

And they’re the same people who wanted Rittenhouse to be hung for “murder”

@@ARBITOR12 Bruh that's not even relevant to this, and I don't think anyone's advocating hanging

True

Didn't you know? Words are violence now.

Nico Bellic: "Welcome to America"

Lol same, I pay zero attention to the awards.

Glad I'm not the only one

Exactly. That's why I think it was staged. Because the Oscars don't matter.

Perfect comment!

Yep. Exactly. A show highlighting rich people ingratiating other rich people with statues could completely disappear and none of us would be any worse for wear.

If only will smith's army of ass kissers had more than a couple of brain cells to recognize what assault and battery is.

They had us in the first half, not gonna lie

We live in a delusional era of "words = violence".

@@SeraphsWitness Nah, just Americans calling everything "self defense" in order to justify assaulting or shooting anyone over anything. Nothing new here.

@@SeraphsWitness Words *can* inflict harm, hence the existence of libel and slander laws, but an appropriate response to harm caused by words is *dispensed* with words not physical force. Self-defense law requires the response to match the level of the threat in question, so escalation to physical force is never an option if you want to claim self-defense when retaliating for something someone said.

@@jcole268 well sure, that's why I mentioned some exceptions to free speech. However I think we're just using the word "harm" differently. What I mean is, words can't physically damage you. That's why physical force is never a justified response. And self defense law varies by state. Generally though, the force doesn't need to MATCH the actions, but be based on a reasonable threat of imminent bodily harm (CA jury instructions). The force used must be deemed necessary to stop the threat in question. So proportionality has nothing to do with it. If you attack me with your fists, I could still be justified in using a gun to shoot you. Depends on the disparity of force between the parties.

@@SeraphsWitness We live in a delusional era of "shouting fire in a crowded theatre isn't inducement to imminent lawless action". That slap looked imminent and lawless. Chris Rock knew he was to blame and didn't press charges since he wanted scandal that would make him money, not drain it away to lawyers.

No idea huh?"Jada"!!! Hello,get a Clue dude!!!

Honestly favourite intro so far

They chase other things too! Not just ambulances. Have you heard of The Hammer? 😂

@@kellyhunt5888 did you even read his comment lmao

@@kellyhunt5888 You don't even know what his comment means.

I'd like to think he was born this way.

He might have shorts and sandals on in this video…

I bet he flies with it on.

He's wearing shorts for sure.

My first thought too!!! Now THAT is style!

Maybe he has white privilege?

@@likainenerkki7047 he has rich status privilege

@@cfgyvr6321 that was my point. Everyone goes on and on about white privilege, but does some trailer park white kid have more privilege than Will Smith's kids? Just because he's a white kid? No. It's about poor vs rich more than white vs black.

He has money armor...you didnt know

That's tame considering all the misconduct going on Australian Parliament House that was ignored. Shouldn't someone who masturbates on another MP's desk get removed?

There are strengths to both systems. In the UK's system, battered folks don't have to find the internal strength to press charges against their batterers. But in the US system, the victim is empowered to grant mercy or wave someone off if they don't consider themselves a victim.

I saw something just like that on Jeeves and Wooster, you know I think it's the pilot. It was weird to me. People get by with hitting each other too much.

The American legal system is both fair and extremely unfair, depending on where you are and WHO you are.

The same in Australia Smith would have been charged ..as he should have been But Americans would have turned on Chris if he had pressed charges .

@@user_angelmum That's not wholly true. Anybody manly or from a lower class background probably would have thought it was pretty spineless of Rock to press charges-- they'd prefer people to settle their differences themselves. But the more effete and those born into the upper classes would have been largely preferred that he did press charges.

This is why I had to get off twitter. This whole narrative of how it was justified. I dont like conservatives. But I do feel like they may be right. Liberals are so sensitive to jokes, they think violence is the appropriate response

You forgot the operative word in his statement. Legally. It doesn't legally justify violence. Will smith surely justified his actions when he said god told him to do it, but I don't think god is a feasible legal excuse unless we're going to insanity plea or some such.

These days this kind of thing has to be explained. Violence is increasingly being justified for all kinds of things. And it's by people both on the left and right.

Meanwhile, he's okay with multiple men rearranging his wife's insides in his own bed.

@@kangbarret honestly, I've seen more conservatives threaten violence over words than I have liberals.

Agreed. It really wasn't a terribly offensive joke. Jada had a bald head and looked like Demi Moore in G.I. Jane. I do not believe Chris was belittling Jada's disease. Plus, the job of the MC is to be funny, a little edgy and entertainers should know, because MC's have been doing it since the 1920's, that the MC's are going to take the piss out of them. Shut up, Will Smith, collect your millions and grow up. Never use violence because of words. Lost respect for hitting someone first. Lost more because it was a girly slap.

The commenter is saying that Chris Rock was pointing out how weak and dated the joke was. Yet he still slapped him. As if to further point out how ridiculous he was being.

tbh I'd kinda take it as a compliment, like GI Jane is a hot and badass woman. He also could have called her E.T, Voldemort or whatever

It was kinda compliment.

he was offended by the "love ya" not by the joke, because he is riddled with jealousy - i thougth that was obv?

it's just a slap, lol. it's hard to even consider that violence.

Yeah, but like Jim Carey says, that video of Chris Rock is forever out there on the internet now. The public humiliation and mental distress of being slapped like that in front of everyone would still be worth $$$ if you had a good lawyer

The Will Smith defenders are unnecessary violence advocates.

It is just alopecia. It is not life threatening. She needs to stop acting like she has cancer. She needs to grow up and act 50 years old instead of a 15 year old. Bigger issues in world.

@@madtechnocrat9234 youd be the first one to cry if someone slapped you. And if its physical contact that intentionally causes pain, which it did, its violence!!!!!

They do have a choice but ultimately it's up to the prosecutor if they think it will be worth thier and the court's time.

it was fake, bro. It is Hollywood. They did it to boost their collapsing ratings.

The point is rich narcissists get away with shit you and I can’t.

There are actual LEOs at these events, this incident was witnessed by police.

the lesson is that the police don't care if they are helping anyone

Precisely. Money makes everything go away.

True lol

but they were literally friends

no, chris rock said he didn’t want to press charges or file a police report.

@@jocelynschneider4172 That's not, actually, relevant. 7:52

rip he isnt

Jeremy Clarkson worked in the UK, so a completely different set of laws applies.

It took me a second but yeah...

ha, I totally missed that!

@@ohauss Don’t make excuses, just admit Will Smith was treated differently. Also, the United States has laws against physical battery against someone

You phrased my thoughts perfectly!

Lol

🤣🤣 aptly put!

PC out of control V

WHO?

Its justified when its about your SO or kids who have a medical condition that they have no control over.. There are some lines you simply don't cross as a comedian and that is one of them.

@@_gungrave_6802 No, it's still not justified. One can always fight words with words. Her medical condition isn't even something bad; it just basically causes baldness. She's literally rich; she could get a good wig if she wanted to, but she chose to make a big public deal about it. Bald jokes are made all the time, and they're fine as long as they don't become harassment. This joke was lighthearted, and it certainly still wouldn't deserve violence even if it weren't.

@@_gungrave_6802 seek therapy

@@_gungrave_6802 Oh please... the joke was so benign that no one would even have remembered it two minutes after the joke. Heck, even Will Smith laughed until his wife let him know that he shouldn't laugh.

@@_gungrave_6802 omg people this is clearly sarcastic?

This "medical condition" is fairly common and it's not life threatening or anything. Also she has a very mild case of it since it didn't even look like she was balding but that she simply shaved her head. you could see that she HAD HAIR roots that were growing, and she simply looked like someone who shaved her head.

The history of Chris Rock making nasty jokes about Jada is long and we’ll known, as well as other nasty, mysoginist comments about other woman. He also know TOO well the importance of hair in black womans culture as he’s made a documentary about his a couple of years ago. He knew exactly what he was doing and the fact that the pressure had only be put on Will Smith to apologise is lazy and single sided. Unfortunately, it seems that most are willing to see this

Chris rock has documented history of making jokes about Jadas medical conditions since they were first diagnosed with it. Chris was telling the same stupid joke for years. This is basically the joke that broke the camel's back.

@@animalsarebeautifulpeople3094 first of alopecia is a symptom not a desease. It is a symptom of many others conditions, from stress to cancer so you cannot say is not something serious. Making jokes about someone's appearance is disgusting, acne is not life threating so should we joke about it?

@Andreas Zignago No he doesn't? He didn't even know she had alopecia, why are you making things up?

This is the one

🤣🤣

I wonder if Smith will have a back-handed comment after that joke.😄

This is the way!

Chris Rock shoulda broken a bottle over Will Smith's head at the afterparty

Hmm good point

Yeah. Normally, they should have kick Will Smith out. No matter if the celebration was about him

Since Will Smith didn't suffer any real consequences and Chris Rock took it like a champ while the Academy didn't really do anything and nobody got arrested despite millions of witnesses via online everything, I say it's an Academy publicity stunt to make people actually pay attention to the Academy... like Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" to again draw attention to SuperBowl half-time shows. They are entertainers. The Academy are entertainment industry people. With no one really suffering, legally speaking, it's just show business. Will Smith is also a rational person. No rational person as a celebrity in the public eye for that long would be such a Trump-level Karen to have that level of thin-skinned oversensitive stupidity with balls bigger than Trump. Such a real person cannot exist. That kind of personality is a paradox of itself. It was an Academy thing to make the news and make people remember the Academy still exists.

Hmmmmm. That would be interesting.

Interesting and correct perspective. His employer gave him no support and made him feel isolated

This is a fundamental problem on how people interpret free speech. It protects your right to talk, that people cant prevent you from saying what you want. But once you say it, its relevance is over. The context of what you say can bring consequences, and those consequences are not covered by free speech. At least this is how it supposed to work, otherwise you need to protect people who preach genocide, or people who has pedophilic intentions. And if someone preach stuff like that, you cant just "walk away" form the issue. Violence definitely shouldn't be the first option in issues like this, but it is definitely a valid option if other options DOESNT work.

I think you should look that up, because that is NOT what free speech means. Typical American. 🙄

Words are never a legal justification for violence. The more interesting consideration, though, in my mind, is whether there is a moral justification for violence in response to words. Is there a point, where someone can utter something so reprehensible and/or objectively offensive, that a violent reaction is morally justified? I think there is. And I think that in the internet age, we've forgotten the fact that when you say something provocative to someone in person, you might just get slapped. I only bring this up because of how often people repeat this mantra that words don't justify violence. That's a legal truth. But from a moral standpoint. Sometimes people just have it coming. Did Chris Rock? I don't know. Making fun of a medical condition is kinda low. But I think Will Smith overreacted, too.

@@jeffreypelton1260 …………Words are never a legal justification for violence………… Certainly. = = = = = …………….The more interesting consideration, though, in my mind, is whether there is a moral justification for violence in response to words. Is there a point, where someone can utter something so reprehensible and/or objectively offensive, that a violent reaction is morally justified? I think there is………….. What people are really doing is trying to justify “hurt feelings” (be it one’s own, or that of someone allied or someone one is looking to impress) as just cause for escalation to violence. The answer to that is still… NO. If it were, yes, then the person hold those “feelings” becomes a sole arbiter for justification. All someone has to do is say, “I was sufficiently emotional hurt, so physical harm was a valid response”. Can you see how that “morality” is rather suspect? The term “words are violence” (or something like that) is curiously nebulous because it does not differentiate between, say, verbal insults, and verbal instruction or commentary specifically mean to cause immediate material harm to a party. For instance, “you suck” is an opinion, and one that could be intended to cause emotional distress. However, it is not the same as say, “Hey everyone, that guy is a p3doph1le!” which can lead to physical harm … hence some pre-emptive physical response may be required. Of course that is still pre-emptive, and it still does not mean one is right to strike the utterer or those that support him or her. It does mean that some physical effort may be justified if there is an immediate threat of material harm. But, *having yours or your loved one’s “feelings hurt” is still not “moral” justification for escalating to physical violence.* Bullies would want people to believe otherwise. = = = = = ……………And I think that in the internet age, we've forgotten the fact that when you say something provocative to someone in person, you might just get slapped. I only bring this up because of how often people repeat this mantra that words don't justify violence……………. Certainly, many people hide behind the relative safety of the Internet to insult and troll others. However, getting slapped for mere insults is still “morally” wrong. If it were not so, then practically every person that decides to take swing at someone is “justified” because he or she “felt” insulted. Don’t like how someone addressed you? Start swinging. Don’t like how someone referred to your favorite sports team? Start swinging. Don’t agree on which beer is better? Start swinging. See how all of that is just trying to rationalize a roundhouse punch because someone “insulted” you? = = = = = ………. That's a legal truth. But from a moral standpoint. Sometimes people just have it coming. ………. From a moral standpoint, feelings DO NOT justify physically bullying or striking someone else. Freedom of expression is just that. If one feels that others should be intimidated into silence, one is basically denying others of their right to expression --- everyone has a right to an opinion (even if that opinion is infuriating to others). = = = = = …………Did Chris Rock? I don't know. Making fun of a medical condition is kinda low………… Well, we do know that most people, and likely Chris Rock, had no idea about Jada’s alopecia. Hence it is highly dubious that Chris was specifically “making fun” of it. Woke apologists seem to be the ones trying to sell the idea that it was about that as a way to “justify” escalation. Even if it were so, it is still neither legally nor morally justified. Give as good as you got --- so verbally insult him back if you like, but to take a swing? Nope. = = = = = ………..But I think Will Smith overreacted, too……….. Really? LOL. Consider that he did not only sucker-punch (or slap) an unsuspecting victim, he also attempted to intimidate and threaten further violence via f-bombs. He also specifically made it a point to not apologize to the victim and only did so after fierce public condemnation. Even then, it was a weak and carefully crafted “apology”. He didn’t just “over-react”. He was so entitled that he thought he could get away with that level of arrogant, thuggish and childish behavior. Well… he was wrong, and now people recognize just how far and deep this infection of hypocrisy has gone. Of course, it was only a matter of time. = = = = =

@@jeffreypelton1260 There is no evidence that he made Fun of her medical. Will and everyone else just assumed it.

@Jeffrey Pelton Farkin said it best. But if morally words could justify violence, then morally it would be justified to prevent those words from even being spoken. Which is suppressing free speech. So now you’re morally supporting restricting constitutional rights because it’s something you don’t agree with. But asking if “Chris Rock deserved it” is very similar to victim blaming. “Well, look at what she was wearing. Didn’t she deserve to get raped?” “He was wearing a very expensive watch in public. Didn’t he deserve to be mugged?”

@@iannovak5223 She is bald because of a medical condition. He made fun of her being bald. Not complicated.

Well said

Underrated comment 👏

He did react with laughter. Then she made him a Manchurian Candidate zombie.

Will didn't react. He over-reacted.

Free willy

They couldn't have foreseen the assault and therefore couldn't protect him, but I agree with everything else you said. I only knew that the Oscars were on because of this incident 😂.

well said, but it seems some in Hollywood are untouchables, amazing academy said they asked him to leave and he refused, usually they will escort you out not aske you out.

@Ribby The Party Frog yeah except that it isn't, so that unfortunate

Security asked Will Smith to leave before he got his award but he refused.

@Ribby The Party Frog let's also conveniently forget that the academy award is not a live event.

JPS was never in harms way. She was not assaulted.

I don't think what Smith did was fine. But I do understand it. I don't think that a jury would probably find Smith not guilty.

Rushing the stage is nothing new. John Wayne tried to rush the stage to force Sacheen Littlefeather off the stage.

Right now? This was the standard response two generations ago. Its definitely far less accepted these days (rightfully so), but this kind of reaction isn't a new thing.

@@thacobell4700 The thing that bothers me the most is how big a deal people seem to be making of this. On both sides. It was in questionable taste to make a joke about how Jada's hair loss. First, it's just another example of how women are frequently marginalized. Remember, he simply referred to nominee Penelope Cruz simply as Javier Bardem's wife. Second, that making fun of someone's illness is no big deal. HOWEVER, Will Smith's action was more stupid and bizarre than anything else. The Academy's decision to discipline him was reasonable. That should have been the end of it. As far as I am concerned, it was two over indulged, privileged adolescents doing what they always do. It is not worth our time.

So true. Oh, and you didn't smile or laugh at their joke and they are so offended and screaming names at you as they walk out. Happened to me three times in two days. I don't know. It's a gift.

This! A lady threw yarn (which is thankfully soft) at me because she wanted the advertised discount on it, but this particular dye lot was on clearance for less than the full price + discount. She wanted the discount off the clearance price. I'd had customers argue with me, but that was the first time someone got violent, and I'm glad it was just yarn. And she'd been so nice and cheerful until she didn't get her way!

It's because Will Smith is in a toxic relationship. I met some guys like Will Smith in high school, they are emotionally unstable and will snap at any minor thing. It's really scary.

As a retail worker, i can attest to this, in fact, this happened to me two days ago. Started swearing, throwing things around, and damaging product, all because he couldnt find a bag that he claims he had and was stolen, that no one ever saw him with. He even called emergency.

Yeah or you tell them that you don’t sell baking soda, and the person is jonesing for crack!

This is my viewpoint as well.

55% of men over 50 have alopecia. No one goes around calling that an autoimmune disorder. Its just called balding. Its so weird to hear it referred to as a medical condition. People know what balding is, but they see alopecia and they assume its some strange unknown medical condition. Its literally just balding.

@@demonhunter2121 It's socially acceptable for middle aged men to be balding or bald. For women and children, it's typically seen as abnormal. Also alopecia areata is a diagnosable autoimmune disease but doesn't account for all cases of baldness.

@@maggiep6605 Male balding isn't just middle ages, is caused by hormonal sensitivity, and it isn't really socially acceptable. Meaning, it renders men less attractive, less employable, easier to divorce, discriminate or fire, and totally fine to make fun of. Each part of the previous sentence is backed up by studies. Saying it is socially acceptable is like saying obesity is.

@@emilianosintarias7337 The person I was responding to specifically mentioned men over 50. And however socially unacceptable you consider adult male balding to be, it is much worse for women and children.

Imma let you finish, but the lack of security preventing highly famous people from walking onto a stage during a live presentation is the greatest album of all time.

Why would security stop pre planned Drama?

There's probably security for the normies in the back, but I don't imagine the actor section has security.

I'm a photographer and I work alot of celebrity events. Security can be hit and miss, in this case the security is all done outside of the event room. They're preventing members of the general public from coming in, they're screening for weapons, etc.... Many events will have a member of security standing by all entrances to the stage however in Televised events they're not because of optics

@@user-mm8vw1ow1x No. The curse word are too authentic. You feel his anger. This guy is a loser anyway I don't watch his movies.

But then we wouldn’t have all these memes.

or he could have said something about it during his speech.

@@poluticon he clearly wanted the Meme to go viral like it did

He could've just said not to talk about his wife and then shifted to a good-natured roast against Chris so things didn't end on an awkward note.

It was fake. If you can't see that this was all set up like Bruno putting his butt in Eminem's face years ago, you're mentally stunted.

Same with "if charges were to be made it won't be the maximum because the police have better things to do" I bet if i walked up and slapped Will i would probably face jail time.

@@BeeTriggerBee That's cuz you're some random. It's not like that doesn't apply in real life. If one of my friends legitimately slapped me in the face in public, but I told the police "it's all good", they most likely wouldn't do anything.

@@Vexas345 As i said " if charges were made", Your example is that you the victim is telling the cop it's fine. we should all be equal to the law so it shouldn't matter if the perpetrator is a random, friend or celebrity. clearly the notion that we aren't equal is so well cemented that it was your first reaction.

@@BeeTriggerBee But the law always considers the history between people. It has nothing to do with equality. If a random came up to me and slapped me, the police would probably still arrest them because it's some random going around slapping people, regardless of what I said. I don't have a problem with either scenario, they both are reasonable, so why should this case be different?

@Jonathan Orozco just don't be one of those people who's been cucked into hating and watchdogging celebs/liberal Hollywood by golden toilet millionaire daddy and his cohorts using you for votes

😂😂😂

Awesome 👌lol

This deserves way more up-votes.

The upvotes should be squared, or at least floor(v^1.5)

Nice effort on that. Hopefully you didn't steal it lol

I would argue calling a cancer patient "Mr. Clean" is worse than joking Mr. Clean looks like a cancer patient. The comparison in itself is harmless, but the message here is "you are bald because of a sickness and you need to be reminded that I think it makes you look funny."

@@tomdekler9280 Do you personally think that was the message? The joke itself doesn't imply at all it has to do with Jada's sickness, only her baldness. (I know her baldness is due to her sickness but hang on). If he had used an example of a character who had to shave their hair due to a sickness then would obviously be implied that it's related. G.I. Jane cuts her own hair to 'fit in' and show dedication so to speak with her fellow military recruits. There are a plethora of bald characters to choose from for the joke, why G.I. Jane if his intention was to take a jab at her sickness? There are no similarities between how the baldness occurred, only the baldness itself. I don't know, maybe I'm weird. Have a nice weekend!

Chris rock has been making jokes about Jadas disorder for years. Basically the minute they were diagnosed he was making jokes about jada when he was speaking at the event. This is the joke broke that camel's back. It's just a shitty joke piled on a mountain of shity jokes poking the same wound. Jada has stopped going to many of those events because of that.

@@Wojtekoa Would you mind showing me where he made fun of her condition or baldness prior to this?

@@HateHolo adressing his history with the topic

This isn't roadhouse, bud. Security forcibly ejecting will smith would have made a bad situation, worse

@@jaredhicks5655 Security also has a duty of care. So their level of action comes with responsibility.

Someone said it's not a live event

@Josh, being a security guard is not a profession that you can throw around to show credibility

@@nyikasplace9886 You're right, better I just talk out my ass about stuff I have no idea about like most commenters. My mistake, TIL.

No you wouldn't. Not for the first few at least. As he said, police have way more important things to spend resources on than a random lovetap, and even if they don't at most you would get a fine.

Key words being "I feel like..." lots of people feel like what they do is morally justifiable. That doesn't make it so. In no way shape or form is Smith's medieval sense of propriety morally justifiable. It's profoundly stupid and dangerous.

He wasn't even morally justified either lmao

Yes, and this lawyer doesn't seem to get it. I can't believe he concluded that Chris Rock didn't suffer any long-lasting injury. I've seen people suffer brain injury from things like this that didn't set in until days later.

I firmly believe that you are only morally justified in physically assaulting another person when defending yourself or others from physical harm. There's definitely edge cases (in case of prolonged abuse or other kind of repeated offenses if you can't rely on any mediation or the law for instance), but this is definitely not one of them. You can't even argue that Smith's social standing would have been affected had he not reacted that way, as society no longer expect men to "defend" the women "under their protection" from mild jokes with physical violence as might have been the case a couple centuries ago, at least not polite mainstream society (of which he belongs).

Totally, Chris made his chops in standup he's being dealing with hecklers since forever

Yeah he definitely held back. Saying something like “is that how jada slapped tupac and your sons friend during the rough part in bed?” would’ve been funny.

And Will Smith could have laid Chris out flat, but he didn't.

@@Rennies-World Considering Will is an uncivilized savage brute who doesn't understand comedy, yeah, he probably could.

True. Will Smith professionally trained as a boxer for his role for the movie Ali. His open-handed slap could cause more injury that a closed fist assault than a non-trained boxer.

And anybody who has been through a car accident knows that you often feel (reasonably) fine right after. It's the next day that your body aches all over.

Getting your ears boxed (cupping your hand and striking over someone's ear) can lead to permanent hearing damage as well

What about psychological effects?

Yeah, my mom experienced physical abuse from her ex-husband and has spent decades working to help other victims of domestic abuse. She pointed out that this is how a person who has hit people before will usually do it. It's easier to avoid damage to your hand this way. I'm in no way implying that he's abused partners, family members, or anyone really. That's not even what my mother was jumping to. She just said it looked like he'd done this before and there was something calculated about it. Tbh I have no idea what to think about him anymore because I used to think he was a really cool guy who I grew up loving.

Why? Are comedians not human? Cant they have biases and prejudices? Why exactly we should give such a big freedom to this certain group, while sometimes other people get jailed saying similar stuff? Yes, in this case a slap is an overreaction, but "Its just humor" is a lousy excuse, which can enable bullying.

@@cancan-wq9un You are the reason why we can't have nice things.

Make the same joke at the same person for the same thing for several years in a row and you too will not take it as a joke and just insults. Hence why the joke left a sour taste in thr audience. It was chris rock playing with fire yet again with a looming volcano.

@@cancan-wq9un Because they are paid to do exactly what they do? What kind of a response is that?? Plumbers are paid to fix pipes, politicians are paid to make laws, and comedians are paid to make jokes. A joke is a joke whether it offends you or not. Also give a single example of a person being jailed for a joke.

@@keatonparker4789 There is a line where a joke goes from well-intentioned humor to something more problematic.

Yep. That's pretty much how it works.

My man learned something today. I'm proud of you. :)

I always thought assault was the act.

If he just stood up to Chris, you can't really prove intent of harm. So while assault occurred when he approached Chris, he couldn't be charged with assault until he started to swing

Nothing was threatening until after the slap, so no assault took place. You could argue that the shouting Will did after the slap and having already battered Chris Rock, Will then assaulted (threatened) Rock.

He sleeps in his suit lol

That’s not a suit. His skin just looks like a suit. And it changes color because he’s a chameleon

Always have to be ready to look fly

No matter what happens, he's always on the job. 😎

Whispers: indochino

This man has serious skill at communicating like a lawyer. And good enough video production to back it up. That’s why it’s one of my recent favorites.

Huh? I thought everything were transparent to anyone having a full set of eyes

@@justanothernguyen2334 I didn't know his wife had a medical condition and that's why her hair is so short. I thought it was just a style choice. Now that I know she has a medical condition, his reaction makes more sense.

@@Telcomvic no, it only makes sense if it turns out will have some extremely pent-up rage regarding his marriage that he had to jump in and overly compensate for his cheating wife at a lightest of joke. Regardless of his wife's opinion on the joke will smith was clearly in the wrong over his chimping behaviour and no one will deny that

@@Telcomvic Will also laughed at the joke, does that reaction also make sense.

will smith had the upper hand and he gave it away by resorting to violence

This night for will has been ruined. To think he couldve been remembered for winning the oscar, now his legacy will be, at best, haunted by the debate of his actions.

Here is my take on the matter. 1. Will Smith had a very public mental and emotional breakdown in which he showed that when under stress he has the emotional maturity of a 3-4 year old child throwing a temper tantrum. 2. Chris Rock kept his cool in showing great restraint and professionalism in how he handled the whole sordid sordid affair - in other words, he acted as a patient adult in dealing with Smith's temper tantrum. 2. Jada Smith is an unfaithful bitch who showed that she has extremely poor tastes by wearing that godawful ugly dress to the Academy Awards, and Will should have slapped her and not Chris for.... Hold on a second. There's a knock at my door. Uh oh...I think it's Will who's here to slap the s**t out of me!

I've lost total respect for Chris Rock.

@@matildalair1236 For what reason? Will is the child throwing a temper tantrum here, over a mild joke about how jada looks like she could be in the army. I mean if you don't want to look like that wear a wig, Get hair transplant surgery, use other modalities to restore your hair. I dont go slapping people around for making fun of my baldness. Is it annoying sure very slightly but i just brush it off or have a whitty comeback about the person throwing shade at me (which is what Will should have done). He shouldnt get an award, he should be cuffed and escorted to the nearest police station. Period the end.

*his pr team* posted an apology. he went to party

Why is ‘posted’ in quotation marks?? Surely it should ‘apology’ in quotation marks instead.

That’s a good point. When he quoted that Denzel thing about the devil i thought that was a bit cringe. Didn’t know why till you explained the devil made me do it

Denzel is a 🤡

He said a pseudo-apology. Which is fancy terminology for not a real apology

It's been reported he didn't. It wasn't a secret as she's talked about it for several years. However, it's not like it's frontpage news. (well, it is now.)

The Rock would had pulverized him with one punch.

It seems more logical that he either makes a joke about similarly build actresses, same hairstyles, same dead careers or even makes a compliment in the form of a joke about a strong, determined, smart woman with similar builds, hairstyle etc... than him making fun of a medical condition...

55% of men over 50 have alopecia. It's just the name of the condition that causes balding. Why is everyone acting like its some rare autoimmune disorder. It's just going bald. Nobody refers to balding male actors as having a medical condition.

Even if he didn't know about the alopecia, I was surprised the guy who felt compelled to make a whole documentary on the importance of hair in black culture due to his daughter's insecurities, would make a hair joke at all, medical condition or not

yeah, I have heard speculation that Rock's reaction is that of a person who's been punched (or slapped) in the face before. So he knows how to keep standing.

Everybody Hates Chris, literally. 😂

My question is if hes has worse hecklers

chris rock has been on the road since the 80s. looking the way he does and sounding the way he does (skinny and goofy especially when he was younger), you know he's seen a lot worse reactions

@Paul Barber lmaoooo

Correct

False.

And he got a standing ovation later. The entertainment industry world is not the same world I live in. Any of us would be down at the regional jail talking to our lawyer.

Absolutely childish.

Well they know each other, too, it wasn't like a stranger slapped him.

Yeah, the whole thing reeks of a PR stunt to me. It's two professional actors playing parts. Seeing it all the way from point A to point B? doesn't feel real. It's like Chris getting slapped was just the punchline for a joke.

@@marhawkman303 i don't know. Chris Rocks immediate after reaction could never be faked. there was a lot of micro-reactions and looking off-stage that just didn't seem scripted to me. there was also no good reason to do any of this. no actor will just do some PR stunt like this without it tying to some work they are doing. any PR person worth their salt would have stopped this before it became a thing (Assuming they planned this), its just not a good look for anyone

Let him keep the award, the damage was done when they didn't immediately kick him out of the building, worse gave him a stage to speak from. Everyone in the audience that gave him a standing ovation should be ashamed as well.

I mean he indeed kept the show going in a very talented way, but my respect for Chris Rock overall has decreased if he’s willing to just make ableist jokes like this. I’m not saying “he had it coming”, I will not condone Will Smith’s violent response, but it is at least understandable.

@@marhawkman303 Doubt it. Smith came out looking like a 3 year old throwing a tantrum. The academy looks bad for not reacting at all.

I think causation of the balding should be taken into consideration, not the gender of the person. All women in my friendgroup are bald, myself included. I am the only one who is bald by choice the others have Alopecia, Trichotillomania (in combo with pcos), Psoriasis and Lupus. Joking about me is fine, about them less so.

Looks like Will didn't get the joke at first, laughed along, then saw that Jada wasn't laughing. She told him what the joke meant, and he got real angry real fast.

first reaction i thought will smith was doing the right thing then i did research on many different videos then i fully understand that will is in the right and the wrong which he should had talked to chris in the backstage and deal with him their telling chris that it was not a funny joke and apologize to his wife

i think a lot of people are just a little to against will but i think he laughed out of habit, didnt really look like a full on laugh. the slap was of course no necessary but i don't think that chris rock was in the right since he insulted jada's disease.

Bad joke? Sure. But it sounds like people are trying really hard to justify assault and battery over words. That's not only disgusting it sets a very dangerous precident when it comes to comedy.

Violence is never an option. Rocks joke was still offensive

While the crime may have been committed, unless there's victims and/or witnesses to testify, it's going to be really hard to prove / convict. It's more accurate to say there's nothing they're _going_ to do -- who wants all that paperwork for nothing? In this case, why would the DA waste one d*** second pushing to prosecute for one of the most meaningless of misdemeanors? There's no jail time, and the maximum fine wouldn't cover the cost of the staff time to type in the report. (his uber ride home from the after party would've been more than the fine.)

Well it's probably sensible to tell cops to say that; what other actions could you take beyond making the arrest? There's not much point hanging around and chewing the fat if there's no more actions to take.

There have been murders where the victim didn’t want to press charges?

Individuals can't press criminal charges... they can only make criminal complaints or allegations. It's up to the Police and the State of they want to actually bring criminal charges against someone.

@@jfbeam There were about a billion views of the crime, lots of witnesses. Plus there are penalties for violence beyond the fine, such as peer/industry ostracization (who wants to work with a crazy violent person), leading to loss of work and exposure in the future.

nice pun

Well done.

😂🤣💀

That’s one thing Jada doesn’t fill herself with

He is one insecure little fellow. Perhaps being routinely cuckolded and abused by his wife has made him that way. I don't think I can watch him in anything again.

Exactly. He was ready to haze them to the ground. He could have started a bit to destroy them since their "marriage situation" was very well known and a very easy target to destroy them both. He took the higher path and he was the real man that night.

One of those days where the world does the roasting regardless of what the comedian says. One can only imagine what kind of a world of roast Chris was about to unleash, but the result of just moving on was likely equally as painful for Will. He's lost Netflix and Sony, two huge names, so far. If the Mouse walks away from him as well his career may be done.

Really good callout. I imagine Chris Rock did the math in his head that Will Smith just literally assaulted him, and he didn't physically retaliate, so he's probably going to come out as the victim in the court of public opinion. He just needed to keep his mouth shut. If he responded with another cheap shot at Will or Jada, then 1) he might lose his status as the victim in this exchange and 2) it might escalate the situation, Will might rush the stage again and who knows what could have happened (including serious harm).

I wonder how Chris Rock would had reacted to that. You know what he thinks about "cancel culture"

I think this had little to do with Will's wife hair. Will is OVERWHELMED with all the chatter that's out there regarding him and Jada. They need to be quiet about what goes on in their bedroom!!!! I'm so sorr Chris Rock had to be the brunt of the Smith's MESS!!!!!! The joke did Not warrant that type of reaction!!! It's a lot going on with Jada and Will. If he didn't like the joke, he could have left!

No shit. It isn't as though he sat there and weighed out the best option. It was a moment of rage where he made a bad choice and obviously regretted it.

Yeah, while I don't think physically assaulting Chris Rock was a good move, your scenario is a total fantasy. If Will got on stage and started delivering a TED Talk about alopecia, 100% of the time he would have been universally ridiculed and insulted for "disrupting" the ceremony, with unfavorable comparisons to the incident at the VMAs with Kanye and Taylor Swift. If you honestly think that him interrupting the Oscars to do that would have been met with anything but people sneering about Will Smith "not being able to take a joke", you are sheltered at best. The only timeline where Will Smith is not attacked for his response to Chris Rock making a hack joke (that was nothing more than a pop culture reference that's old enough to drink) is if his response was to just sit there and do nothing.

Yep. For a moment that was what it seems Smith was going to do. I had the impression Smith was a neat and wise guy. Not anymore.

there is no high ground that begins with insulting someone's disability.

@W H Fitzgerald I think his look to side stage was also looking at production for a cue. Ear piece makes sense too.

@@edwardallenthree her only disability is living a pampered life for way too long

will needs to get away from that controlling woman

@@360.Tapestry Exactly. This woman is insufferable. Constantly complaining, miserable, looking for issues while pretending to be "deep". She's what a pick-me girl is when they are all grown up.

Are the routines ever good at the Oscars? Aren't almost all primarily tired set ups with low hanging fruit comedy?

that's basically all of Amy Schumer's jokes

@@patrickmccurry1563 Correct! But that's ok that kind of weak writing has steadily been drawing in audiences over the last few years... Oh... wait...

@the habbening triggered much?

The joke was kind of a compliment. Comparing Jada to a badass character after saying he loves her.

it feels morally justified to assault you just because you wrote this comment

Seriously, that's not how you deal with hurt feelings as an adult. Regardless of how one feels about the appropriateness of the joke, it did NOT warrant a violent reaction.

Does anybody know if Chris Rock wrote that joke, or did he just deliver it during the ceremony?

@@MisterRlGHT he improvises them I think

Chris is a bully and people need to stop defending him. It’s not a joke when the person on the butt end isn’t likely to be laughing. It’s bullying.

@@Author.Noelle.Alexandria "If a joke misses you should be able to sue them" is that what you want to imply?

I want to see footage of Jada's reaction while Will was yelling. Was she for it or mortified?

yep we all want to see jada coercing smith to commit the assault

I also want to see the look on her face during the entire altercation.

Welcome to 2022, where walking the wrong way is a crime.

@@axain7784 assault has always been a crime. Wtf are you talking about?

You assume he was out of his suit. In my mind, he only wears something else when he's skiing, like the time he wore that snazzy (and very comfy looking) white knitted sweater

no

Almost as cringey as a green screen book case

Wait, his name is Devin?!

who said he wasn't suited up anyways?

@@GeorgeWashingtonLaserMusket Watch out that's a threat. KEEP HIS NAME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!!! 😂

There's definitely past history. Just look at the bts footage after the slap and all the celebs that chose Will over Chris. Its like he did what they've been wanting to do for a minute

@@kmshana94 what BTS footage? What do I type for that?

@@crobeastness I second this.

If only Smith could take a joke as well as his wife is taking their son's friends.

@@kmshana94 past history of being offended by comments does not justify physical violence, no matter how bad those comments were. This was just Will being a conceited arrogant Hollywood asshole

Smith was in the wrong. Jada should have slapped Rock.

Roasting someone for having a disease is not a roast, it's bullying. If she made a decision to have her head shaved for a movie, or just because she likes it that way, then roasting her for it would be fine. Will Smith has watched his wife struggling with her acceptance of this disease, He know exactly how hurtful those words were to his wife. Chris should not have made those comments! Now, I'm not condoning what Will did, but Chris was in the wrong here.

@@edwardallenthree It wasn't the slap for women that "were" his fans. It was the triggering threats after the slap.

@@kellytaylor1282 Bullying is repeated insults/threats etc over a long period of time with the intent to cause emotional/physical pain. Jesus man Chris was clearly not trying to make her cry/feel bad, there is a chance he didn't even know about the disease she is dealing with. We don't need to hyperbolize and escalate it even more.

@@kellytaylor1282 I think Rock has roasted her before over her hair loss and she asked him to stop or made it known that she didnt like what he said so he is not all innocent in this.Legally no justification for what Smith did but very satisfying to see a bully get smacked in the face!!

Sounds like a Narcissist and the previous POTUS to me. Never taking responsibility and deflecting excuses.

@@jfs70ss That's kinda part of the job description. When was the last time you heard a president take responsibility for something bad? Afghanistan pullout? Trump's fault. Gas prices? Putin's fault. Inflation? Greedy corporation's fault. This is a bi-partisan issue. Because when you admit you screwed up, you gave your opponents something to play on repeat in their campaign ads.

@@SeraphsWitness You just proved my point...!! Rationalize, deflect, whataboutism. LOL

I love Dr. Grande

@@jfs70ss I totally agree 👍