Will Smith takes the stage, slaps his colleague in front of everyone, and a few minutes later collects the award for “Best Male Actor”. Tears are flowing, he says strange things about protecting the family. Everyone applauds, great emotion. And even more embarrassment.
Briefly: this is the gala’s biggest scandal. Everyone thought it was a joke, a play foreseen in the script. Because in fact – it looked a bit like that. Chris Rock evidently picked up the playful convention of the event (earlier sexist “jokes” had already signaled that the organizers had flew away sharply) and referred to Jada Pinkett Smith ‘s hairstyle . Everyone chuckled, she made a sour face herself, and suddenly Will grew up next to him, punched the author of the joke in the face and started shouting that “he doesn’t fuck about his wife”. Then he returned to his seat.
It took a few seconds for everyone to understand that this was not part of the script. The climate has subsided a bit. But the show must go on. The producers of the event probably felt doubly hot, because they knew that the aggressor would enter the stage soon and grab the statuette and the title of the best male role in 2021.
And what?
Exactly nothing. Nobody reacted. Smith was not asked. The only reaction of other actors were attempts at jokes or declaring that “the matter will be resolved after the gala”. To be clear, the joke about Pinkett Smith’s body was in bad taste and might have been taken as distasteful or offensive, but it still does not explain physical violence.
The 94th Oscars were completely weak and depressed. For the first hour, not even the word “Ukraine” or “Russia” was spoken (even from Mila Kunis!), The stars coiled in some half-words about “difficult times”, someone there sadly said “fame to Ukraine” at the end, a short message about the victims of the war, but again – no one in this statement said directly what it was about. The strongest comment is made by Amy Schuman about “genocide in Ukraine”.
After dealing with Will Smith, I am not surprised that the dressed up stars did not attempt any stronger act of solidarity with the victims of the Russian attack.
The violence happened in front of them, under their noses, and it still did not meet with categorical opposition. Nobody strongly condemned the scandalous behavior. The actor was greeted on the stage with applause, and during his rather pathetic speech, people in the audience wiped tears of emotion and nodded their heads knowingly. Because he was saying something about being good, about some divine mission and protecting the family.
He ended his twisted and obscure speech (much longer than the statements of other winners) with what was supposed to be a little joke to relax the atmosphere: “Thank you to the Academy, I hope they will invite me here again.” The US media made headlines that Smith had apologized to the Academy .
- I want to apologize to the Academy. I want to apologize to all nominated colleagues. It’s a beautiful moment and I’m not crying for the prize. It’s not about the prize. The point is to be able to shed light on all people, the actor explained vaguely. He also revealed that he had an interview with the gala producer and Denzel Washington during the commercial break .
And what? Still nothing. Smith did not explicitly say who he was apologizing for and for what. He also did not turn to Chris Rock himself, who after all, became a victim of a physical attack in front of the cameras, so I think it’s good that he should be apologized in front of the cameras. Nobody stood up for the defense of the person struck. Moments after the incident, the torturer was the star. He excused himself, cried, but did not explicitly name what had happened. It’s not hard to get the impression that he was just trying to whiten himself by talking about “bad times” in his life and that “love makes us do crazy things.” He later laughed at the cameras and held his wife’s hand. Sweet and sad.
Really romantic. Like in a Hollywood movie. The Society probably forgot that it is not on the set, that this is life and that they can really react differently from time to time than in the (otherwise weak) scenario.
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