Having long lost interest in the Academy Awards twenty plus years ago, I caught bits and pieces of the show. I just so happened to be watching when Will Smith attacked presenter and comedian Chris Rock, by slapping him on stage, as Smith walked away with a smug smirk on his face back to his seat. I sincerely wasn't sure what just happened. The slap looked staged. Was this a comedy bit that went over my head? The audio went out for a pretty long time and I could read Smith's lips and he wasn't wishing Chris Rock a happy birthday. It took a while but it finally dawned on me, that was real! Will Smith actually walked on stage and slapped Chris Rock! Will the Academy stop at nothing for ratings!
As petty as the incident may have seemed - two wealthy celebrities slapping each other. It did expose (yet again) something about our society and the way the "movers and shakers" discuss issues. What immediately came to my mind is we are a society that is forever looking for the "gray" in a situation. We are a country comprised of politicians and activists that speak like Tevye - the lead character from "Fiddler on the Roof", constantly juggling an issue (on the other hand...) twisting ourselves in knots to explain and sometimes excuse behavior.
My gut tells me the politicians and activists are simply opportunists, forever trying to seize and latch on to the political and social winds of the times. Always trying to exploit an issue in such a way that it legitimizes and solidifies the importance of the very cause they champion. But by doing this we have become a society incapable and / or unwilling to simply defend what is "right" and condemn what is "wrong".
Which leads me to my second issue. If people weren't such hypocrites and opportunists, if they simply said what they believe to be true and not take advantage of an opportunity to capitalize upon it for their own gain, you'll never look bad. Your thoughts will always display a consistent logic. But politicians and political activists don't seem to have a moral foundation. They have no core beliefs other than pushing and advancing their cause and make statements which suit their purpose in the moment. Even if it means they contradict themselves from their previous statements.
What Will Smith did at the Academy Awards was wrong. END. OF. STORY. It is not okay to hit someone because of a joke. Individuals at an award ceremony should remain in their seats and not leave their seat to slap, kick, punch, spit on, or engage in ANY contact with a presenter other than to accept the award they are being given. SIMPLE. I make this statement because it is what I believe to be true. It reflects my sense of right and wrong and the values I was raised to believe by my parents. It is a statement that 20 years from now will stand the test of time. No one will read this and say "WOW! This is so dated! Can you believe in 2022 someone actually thought it wasn't okay to slap someone for telling a joke? It was a different time back than." And it is a standard I can hold all accountable to. Hopefully an incident like this will never happen again at an award ceremony but I would still say it was wrong even if it was a white man who did it or a woman, an Asian person, a Hispanic person, gay, straight, whatever!
And yet. Many people confused the issue. They complicated it. They searched for the gray in a sea of black and white. Tiffany Haddish, a comedian I like very much, was present at the Oscars and called what Will Smith did "beautiful". She invoked race stating what she saw was a black man defending his wife. This deflects from the issue. Now you have made it a racial issue and anyone that condemns Smith must now have the stigma placed upon them that they have criticized not merely the act but a black man. In its own way it is clever and that is what activists do (I am not saying Haddish is a political activist, just to be clear). They deflect. As an activist you always want to control the conversation. You want to discuss the issue on your terms. You define the context. And race has become the dominant political topic. It also shuts down debate. Who wants to be labeled a "racist", which now has an ever widening and broad definition. I've always said, usually in reference to dating, if I am going to get in trouble regardless of what I said or didn't say, I'd rather get in trouble for not saying something. You can't erase words once spoken. And you can't make someone forget what was said. Although it may sound sexist, the reality is every man knows your wife or girlfriend will remember whatever you said in a moment of anger and bring it up until the day you die. And even than she may drop you a note from time to time. Point being, when people feel their viewpoint won't be fairly considered, they shut up.
Others tried to turn the Will Smith slap into a commentary about black women's hair and expanded to how we need to protect black women (which was the viewpoint Haddish was expressing). Yes, Chris Rock's G.I. Jane joke was a reference to Jada P. Smith's hair but again you are purposely confusing and complicating an issue. It doesn't matter what the joke was about. You don't go and hit someone over the joke! But the political activists, the "movers and shakers" want to use the opportunity to vent about their pet issue. And by doing so they can't place blame. And so the Tevye syndrome kicks in. People will say you shouldn't slap someone but on the other hand they understand why Smith did what he did. They will cap it all off by saying "both statements can be true". You know what else is true? A statement like that allows one to avoid coming down on an issue and prevent them from making what should be a very simple statement to make. DON'T HIT PEOPLE FOR TELLING A JOKE!
And this leads to what seems to be an uncomfortable truth about both political sides. They seem okay with violence when it suits their purpose. Remember Donald Trump's "very fine people on both sides" statement after the incident in Charlottesville? It excused violence because Trump didn't want to upset his supporters. It would have been very simple to condemn violence but what would have been gained politically from that? And so Democrats gave grandstanding statements condemning violence. And then BlackLivesMatter protests happened. Looting went on. Republicans all of a sudden found the courage to condemn violence. Democrats on the other hand...well, protests are supposed to be violent. Violent protests bring change. And really, big deal, so a couple of buildings were destroyed and some people stole merchandise from these stores. The left-wing political activists told us, we are valuing property above human lives! Everyone can always come up with a justification for behavior they approve of. There is always a talking point ready to be repeated by the party involved. But when January 6th happened Republicans could now say, well, that was a violent protest and didn't Democrats say violent protests bring change? Protests are supposed to be violent. Again, I must repeat myself, if you just say what you know to be true and right, you will always look good. You will always be viewed as an honest person. Were these politicians and activists being disingenuous? You bet! Were they bending truths? You bet! Are they hypocrites? You bet! But that seems to be the name of the game nowadays. Engage in faux outrage, take phony-baloney moral positions that you are willing to drop on a dime when the opportunity arises, confuse the issue and search for the gray.
And what do we get out of it? How does this help our politics or the Academy? What is gained? In the case of the Academy, not much. Oh sure, ratings went up a bit, compared to last year but that's only because last year's had the all-time lowest ratings. This year's show is the second lowest rated, based on preliminarily numbers.
And what of the rest of the show? The Academy continued in its efforts to make politically correct, image conscious decisions. The best director winner was Jane Campion for "The Power of the Dog" (2021). Making Campion the third woman to ever win the award. It was also historic in the sense it marked the first time ever two females won the best director award back-to-back. Last year's winner was Chloe Zhao for "Nomadland" (2020). "CODA" (2021), which won best picture became the second remake (it is based on a French movie) to win the top prize (Scorsese's "The Departed" (2006) was the first). Jessica Chastain won best actress for a performance I raved about in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" (2021), which I placed on my top ten list. Kenneth Branagh won his first Oscar ever for best original screenplay for "Belfast" (2021).
Although the Academy tried to shorten the show by having technical awards presented prior to the telecast, the show was still one of the longest. Some of the show's botches I felt included a 60th anniversary tribute to James Bond which was presented by Tony Hawk, Kelly Slater, and Shaun White! My question is why? Where were the actual living actors that have played Bond - Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, and Daniel Craig? What the heck, invite George Lazenby too! A 50th anniversary of "The Godfather" (1972) had Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino, and Robert De Niro on stage but no clips of the movie were shown? And while I love Robert De Niro, he was actually in the sequel not the original. Where was Diane Keaton, James Caan, and Talia Shire? Somehow they even managed to screw up the In Memorial by having a choir sing right in front of the screen honoring those that passed away. It was very distracting. Why not place the choir to the side of the screen? Unfortunately (or luckily) that was all I personally saw. And of course Will Smith won best actor and provided a lame excuse about how love made him do what he did.
I'm sure my take on the slap will anger some political activists if they ever read this and feel I am "simplifying" the issue but that's my point! Yes, I am familiar with the saying "there are two sides to every story" but are you familiar with "shut the fuck up"? Not everything has to have two sides. The politicians and political activists know this, when it is convenient for them of course. They will engage in moral grandstanding. They won't feel the need to split hairs. It is them I blame for all discourse. Not us, the everyday John and Jane Does of the world. Every person I know, who didn't have a political agenda, agreed with me. Will Smith was wrong. Case closed. We have to stop looking for the gray. Stop complicating the simple. Did you know there are 72 genders? I can still only name two.
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