Will Smith resigns from Academy | Nightline 

When people give a guy that just slapped someone on live TV a standing ovation? There is something wrong with society, especially in Hollywood.

Going to the Oscar’s expecting not to get roasted by a comedian is like diving into a lake and expecting not to get wet.

My dad always said to not take serious actions when you are in an excited or vulnerable state and can cause huge regrets most of the times. This is a great example

Will Smith is more unhappy than he realises. He’s actions revealed the state of his mind.

Joke would have been forgotten by now but the actions by Will that joke will be remembered for years to come

The most accurate example of “you can’t fire me, i quit!”

RIP Will Smith. Of all the things he could have done, this one we will remember for years.

Ooohh he resigned… wow. My eyes can’t roll any harder. He already got his rewards from them. This means nothing at all.

Chris Rock should have won an Oscar for professionalism and dignity.

Not wanting Will Smith arrested is not the same as expecting the Oscars to eject him. Chris was in shock. When something shocking happens to you. You cannot think. The Academy should have done the right thing.

The simple fact he was laughing comfortably at the joke until he realizes Jada's reaction says everything. Guard your emotions and remember: calm is a superpower.

If any of us acted like that at a work function, we would have lost everything. Just shows you the inequality we have in this country. Everyone talks about race being a division, but the only color left in this country is Green. Those with it and those without it, and justice follows.

Even throwing the joke Chris was respectful, “Jada, I love you…”. The joke was not bad, they just exaggerated.

Jada was terrified of loosing her hair and took offence at Chirs' joke. The GI Jane movie was absolutely amazing. However, she was comfortable in belittling Will by sleeping with her son's friend and others. Now this is what's disguisting...

*“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you’ll do things differently.”* _Warren Buffet. It took him 5 seconds; he proved it could be less than that.

what about jada? when your husband is laughing at a joke then literally 5 seconds later he's slapping someone after you rolled your eyes, something is up. you know she had something to do with it.

No one was laughing at Jada's medical condition. That's ridiculous. A lot of people didn't even know about her medical condition and neither did Chris. The joke was just about a shaved hair style. No one was laughing specifically at Jada knowing she had a medical condition. Will is losing it. He is unstable. I think he needs to do some deep reflection on his behavior and actions.

The slap overshadowed his Oscar win. Will was wrong with what he did

Ricky Gervais: “I would not have made a joke about his wife’s hair. I would have made a joke about her boyfriend.”

I thought it was a skit at first then I was so shocked. I wanted to hug Chris Rock. I'm a senior citizen and I thought it was terrible.

The slap was shocking, yet how he yelled the F bomb in front of alllllllll those people and those of us watching at such a formal affair with NO SHAME-is incomprehensible. I think people are still talking about it because you didn’t expect this to happen at the Oscars of all places, but also because it’s Will Smith. He made a fool of himself and to so many people who once respected him. Chris handled that moment with class.

All those in that theater who stood up to give the standing ovation... Need to be interviewed about their morality

There should have been a standing ovation for Chris since he reacted like a gentleman and did not beat the crap out of him. Will was 100% wrong! He tarnished his reputation and acted like a fool!

Will Smith gives the ultimate middle finger. " You can't ban me Oscars, because I quit"~Will Smith. No consequences, self imposed penalty, no restoration for damage to Chris Rock.

So the message that the academy is sending is that if you assault someone and you’re a celebrity you get to resign from the Oscars, after being given a standing ovation. If I, a non celebrity, went up there and slapped one of those entitled spoiled Hollywood brat, I would have been arrested. The academy is just as sickening and guilty as Will Smith.

It seems that hitting a comic for telling a joke gets you a standing ovation those people standing and applauding tells the world it's ok to be violent Hollywood needs to take a long hard look in the mirror. There where a great many options for Will Smith to address this without hitting Chris Rock. Will took the violent option and it's wrong.

This is really truly sad to see. Something is going on with Will. He’s someone we all grew up watching and has been controversy free except for the actions pertaining to his wife. I feel like she’s a narcissist, and she has damaged him, she’s humiliated him and emasculated him. They both need help. I have no doubt that somehow her reaction is what triggered him to think he needed to take action, and now the biggest award in his entire career that he’s wanted so bad, is tarnished and could potentially be lost.

"We ride together, we die together....bad marriage for life", then a fist bump and laughter. These two deserve each other, not in a good way. He laughed, saw she was a bit distressed by the joke, then got his back up, decided to be "manly" and smack someone waaaay smaller than he was. What a guy. And Pinkett hasn't said boo about any of it, rather than some "time for healing" tripe.

Not having any security intervention during OR after an assault is pretty ridiculous. We all know damn well if that was ANYONE else, they would have been ejected from the venue ASAP by any means necessary.

Nothing wrong with his joke, being called as G.I Jane is a compliment.Will even is laughing, The hurting part is Jada laughs after Chris was hit...

For all the people saying Will was “defending his wife’s honour” what honour? She cheated on him with his sons friend and Chris didn’t even know about her medical condition, as if any of us gave af about Jadas personal medical history before this she’s been bald since the matrix.

As bill maher said: "if will smith is expelled from the academy, where's the punishment?"

Imagine defending the woman who cheated on you with your child’s friend, who was a minor at the time, and in an effort to redeem your manliness you slap someone on National TV 🙃. Can we talk about how Jada is actually sick and manipulative

Wow, Chris. You are truly a good man.

Will Smith PHYSICALLY ASSAULTING ANYONE IS ABSOLUTELY APPALLINGLY AND DISGUSTING!!! But to do so on live television with the entire world watching is outrageous and I can not believe something was NOT done immediately!!! And regardless of How Will Smith acted when he was younger or how much he didn’t want to curse when he was younger it has absolutely NOTHING to do with him ASSAULTING CHRIS ROCK a couple of days ago!!! Chris was just doing his job, he did Not deserve that! If a “regular” person had done what Will Smith did, holy crap!!!! They absolutely would have been arrested immediately and definitely Not given a choice to leave or not!!! This is just outrageous!!! I can not believe a criminal act that was on live television is Ok because of the person that did it!!! What kind of crap is that!?!? It’s Not Right it’s Not ok and this is a serious aggressive act on Will Smiths part!!! He absolutely should have SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES AS SHOULD ANYONE THAT ATTACKS ANOTHER PERSON ON LIVE TV OR NOT!!!

I think it was disgusting 🤢 what Will did. Chris should have press charges. I have been a victim of assault and no one deserves to be assaulted. Stop trying to make excuses for Will and Jada. A joke is a joke.

Borderline joke. Everything Will worked for, this slap has destroyed everything for him. I'm backing Rock.

The audience WAS NOT LAUGHING AT JADA they were LAUGHING AT the JOKE. JOKE DID NOT SAY the words HAIR LOSS, SHAVED HEAD, LOSING HAIR.

Quote: “Narcissists can’t be fixed because they don’t want to be fixed. Their disorder gets them the attention they crave and allows them to use and abuse others, while still believing they are good and decent human beings.”

"Will Smith resigns from the academy"....Only to re-sign in a couple months 😂... This is NOTHING...It means what???...He can't take part in the ballots pertaining to voting for nominees...BIG EFFEN DEAL!

"Making fun of her hair is violence!" No, it LITERALLY ISN'T!

“Handfuls of hair on my hands” that’s me everyday. Don’t take life too serious. If you look closely at her hair she has follicles on most of her hair, her alopecia is not severe. Besides hasn’t she shaved her hair before. I don’t think the joke deserved that big of attention . GI Jane is a bad ass!!!!

That joke was not “violence” and Will WAS acting in an irrational way. He is obviously going through a lot of personal issues. Hoping he heals up. No need to justify his actions. What happened happened. Much love to Chris Rock.

I'm still waiting for someone to explain the "INSULT" of a joke comparing her to a strong, beautiful woman, not defined by her lack of hair??? Aside from the fact there's not a single illness in the history of man that hasn't had a joke about it, including those that are terminal, some seem to forget that laughter is the best medicine. You have to be very weak inside to let words bring you down. People can CHOOSE to be insulted or hurt by anything, or they can choose to laugh. Violence against words is never ok. My dad always told me; "If you throw the first punch, you've already lost the argument." It is the lack of Justice, and any real remorse (PR statements aside) from Will Smith as well as The Academy's lack of action that has most people upset. If Will had made a sincere apology, instead of justifying his actions, trying to paint himself the hero and protector...that might have been a different story, but he crossed every line as a professional and as a human being and living in denial of that isn't the path to healing. The Academy's words and claims are empty as their actions speak for them and they DID condone violence. They gave it an Award and a Standing Ovation.

The most shameful part of the evening. Not one person came to Chris Rock's side or defense. Chris is owed a tremendous amount of love and support.

Not only did he hit Chris Rock, Will Smith slammed him a second time by not apologizing during his acceptance speech. Sorry, The mechanical apology 24 hours later was too late and too insincere...

Will Smith is such a coward, he would never have slapped The Rock or someone bigger than him. He should be charged!

I'd say we're all WAITING FOR JUSTICE! It's absolutely OUTRAGEOUS that Smith is getting away with this. He assaults someone on stage and gets HANDED AN OSCAR?! Unbelievable

There was more than one opportunity to make this right and the Academy FAILED to do so and the fact that they're "shifting" blame at this point just to "save face" is a new level of disgusting...RIP Oscars because I lost whatever little respect I had for them...

Apparently the Smiths are open about everything except a Joke, August would have been so so proud.

I am heartbroken???? Will is a joke himself. He creates the situation that he is in and then he feels sorry for himself. He needs to grow up.

Academy: “Smith leave.” Will smith: “no” Academy: “oh well then.”

No one was laughing at her, how many people knew about her Alopecia? Did Chris Rock know?he said it without malice, he is a comedian and did his thing.

Six Degrees Of Separation. Knew Will before fame. Met Chris Rock briefly in New York. Both are examples of black excellence. Will relationship with Jada reminds me of my long term interracial relationship. It hurts Will, I know the feeling. Like your motivational, positive thinking that inspire millions, including me. The whole world is looking now after a foolish, illogical act, you got to practice what you preach. You’re in a toxic relationship. It has to end, trust me I know, no women is worth your sanity. We both know how to turn our pain into Art.

You know it's real bad when even the gangsta rapper's are disappoint in will

The fact that Will laughed at the joke Chris made until he saw his wife's face... says more than anything. He thought it was funny too. Then he had to back track and went way overboard to cover his own embarrassment.

“You can’t fire me, I quit”

I can't believe that Black Women are making an excuse, because they're attempting to use Will Smith "so called "defending Jada, to validate their own feelings of people criticism of us and our hair, which is ridiculous.. I happen to believe that he was not even defending her, her. She was pissed AT HIM, FOR LAUGHING... That's what he was trying to fix. I know this, because if a white man had slapped Chris Rock, and gotten away with it, then received an award, the phoney outrage would instead be on bigotry.

Will Smith did the same thing years ago, he made fun of one of Arsenio Hall's Band Members that had Alopecia, he said " It's Just A Joke" The folks in the crowd booed him

It wasn’t a confrontation, it was an assault..

I don't think anyone was laughing "at" Jada, as one of the commenters said. Will's resignation from the Academy was the right thing to do; he behaved badly in a situation that didn't call for such an hysterical response. Both Will and Jada need to take a look at themselves and their relationship. It seems Jada is carrying Will's manhood around in her purse.

It's low key racist to call August Alsina a rapper. Not all African American musicians are rappers. August is an r&b SINGER

It doesn't really matter what he says. He may have his reasons, but a person just can't do what he did. We have rules and laws in this country, and people can't smack someone else because they r offended by what they said. If this was allowed, then half the people in the country would have broken jaws. He knowingly broke the law, and he should face the consequences.

Academy: “Will…you’re fired” Will: “No…I quit”

I didn't think that you had to have the victims approval to arrest someone for an assault.

"Jada is a star in her own right, with films like Matrix reloaded and girls trip?" Lol 😆😂 😝 Amazing resume lol. She's staying with Will to stay at least a little relevant

Chris didn't want even more attention on the incident can you imagine if cops came in there

He should return his award! I really don't care if he resigns... I just want that award to be given to another actor. Resignation means nothing if he still has that award!

The joke in words literally spoke only to "G.I Jane 2". Had Chris explicitly mentioned Jada's head, baldness, hair loss or anything along those lines in the joke then I'd understand the reaction. That joke could have been interpreted a number of ways, including a brave, strong woman who succeeded in an inhumanly punishing regime that has a standard 60% dropout rate for men...which is a compliment to Jada...but of course the way society nowadays they immediately just think the worst and make it more than it really needs to be.

"Defending" his wife doesn't justify an unprovoked violent attack. If Chris hit Jada, then fine let Will get physical to defend her, but Chris didn't touch her

So what, Will Smith cannot vote for Oscar nominees. The whole succession of events invoked by Will Smith was one Coward Act after another, from the Sucker Smack, to the F Bombs screamed from his chair, to the absurd pity potty woe is me speech, to his whooping it up at the afterparty, like no big deal, he didn't just ruin everyone's night. His resignation is a Coward move, on top of his long string of Coward Acts Sunday evening.

His wife is a narcisst. Whenever a narcisst is involved drama and chaos follows. She will be loving this. Sick

This doesn't seem like much of a punishment (not being able to see screeners or vote). a real punishment would be not being allowed to attend any Oscar ceremonies for a few years, attending anger management classes and donating money to a worthy charity.

Lost his glorious moment. Should be the highlight when he received his Oscar award. Instead he created his own drama and made himself a meme for life. What a shame. What's wrong comparing with badass GI Jane, it's a compliment, hello to amazing Demi Moore when she did that movie. Salute to Chris Rock for being professional and compose during the incident.

great video. excellent analysis

It’s hard to talk about being a vessel of love and compassion and have any believability when your knuckles are still bleeding from when you tried to knock somebody out in a fit of rage. In front of a packed auditorium. In front of millions watching around the world.

“Bad marriage for life” sounds less like a cool quote mimicking the “Bad Boyz” movie line, and more like a pass to fall back on no matter what she does to him. Are we seriously promoting toxic relationships now instead of choosing peace and mental sanity?

Kipling called them "half devil half child" and I think he nailed it.

Will and his family choose to air all their dirty laundry in the public space, from marital indiscretion to illness and more, once you do that, it's fair game.

I was so angry about that yesterday ,it's really messed up . Threatening him yelling at him afterwards after hitting him."defending women"-from having to roll their eyes ? false equivalency.

Hear that man in the computer talking rubbish. If Jada thinks her hair is what defines her or makes her worthy of respect, she really needs to deal with that error. Jada was looking very pretty at the Oscar’s night. Moreover, Mr Rock’s G I JANE joke wasn’t even closely worthy of the violent response from Will Smith.

He said a joke about Jada was too much to handle yet he was laughing at first . Nonsense

LZ Granderson: "Chris Rocks joke is violence" ... No, it isn't. Will Smith let his emotions get to him and used violence. Let not gloss over that.

“You make Will appear highly irrational” Yeah man, he made himself look irrational, sorry. There’s nothing we can do to rationalize an overreaction like that

People defending any adult who batters somebody after hearing a joke is absolutely sad and should go against everything we teach young children.

Will is a human being. Here is what we sometimes forget, being a celebrity doesn't make him perfect. Many human beings have the experience where you overreacted and then after overreacting you go "damn that's not the way I should have handled it". The only difference between Will Smith's overreaction and the rest of us is that he is famous. So he has more audience. Even if it didn't take place at the Academy Awards, it would still get attention. When we overreacted and ended up suspended, or with a memo, or even fired, when we lost our spouses and maybe even our children it wasn't on the news because we are not famous. And because we humans have a bit of selfishness coming from Cain, o this may not be forgotten or forgiven, no sir we will rub it in every chance we get on every media even in 2044 . Whatever consequences he must face for his actions Academy Awards do what you must before next year, for even after doing that it won't change the fact that mankind will not let this go.

everyone taking any consideration to smiths public statement, he did not make that statement his publicist did so dont take it seriously.

he needs to drop that stinking mess he calls a wife she’s a state .

Will didn't appear highly irrational - HE WAS Guess he feels he is so good, he can do whatever he wants. His actions showed the true Will. Disgusting ‼️

I really would not believe anything Will Smith says in a interview, he’s a great actor how will we know he’s telling the truth or acting

Sadly, I'll never be able to watch and enjoy "Independence Day" the same way ever again. That's the real tragedy!

So, just like 'Everybody Hates Chris!', 'Everybody Watches Red Table'????? It is not like Jada's medical condition is as obvious as loss of a leg or arm. Her own daughter Willow goes bald by choice sometimes. Some beauty queens and fashion models choose bald hairstyle! How does one tell medical bald from choice one - let alone Chris Rock! Quoting Willow Smith: ""This is going to be my third time in my life shaving my head. I'm always shaving my head at monumental times in my life when things are really changing and this is definitely one of those moments."

Smith: I wanna be a vessel for love Smith: Slap , what a lovely way of showing love?

Will Smith, for decades, cultivated a wholesome image that went back to the 80's. His biggest mistake is not who he is

The entire world and the entire industry was NOT laughing at her hair they were gritting their teeth at her ability to glare at Will until he got up and went and did what he did!!!!

Resigning is an empty gesture, he just needs to be nominated and he is back where he feels he is king of the hill.

Will has resigned in an attempt to recover his reputation. Virtue signaling. Chris demonstrated true professionalism and grace. Prayers for all affected.🙏

“That’s violence“….. this changing definition of critical words is getting dangerous.. Will slap someone and he calling Chris violent

Will Smith is on film slapping another guy. He is full of anger.

Chris was assaulted and no one cared to protect him instead they praised and honored the attacker 🤬😡. They should of never asked Chris what he wanted them to do, he was in shock instead they should of handled it like what it was an assault and let the police handle it.