23 Of The Worst Takes On Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock At The Oscars

Photo via @kylenabecker/Twitter, @BudrykZack/Twitter

March 28, 2022, 11:44 am

The whole world was upended on Sunday night after actor Will Smith walked onto the stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars for making a G.I. Jane joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and her hair loss due to alopecia. Smith followed up on this after returning to his seat by repeatedly telling Rock not to speak his wife’s name.

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“Keep my wife’s name out your f—ing mouth,” Smith shouted at him.

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#Oscar presenter Chris Rock has declined to file a police report over actor Will Smith slapping him during the live broadcast of the Academy Awards ceremony and the LAPD is not investigating the incident at this time. https://t.co/sq7NGLN6Xz

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) March 28, 2022

The incident has kicked off a massive online debate about what violence is and when it is acceptable, if ever, to utilize. There are actually important discussions to be had around this relatively small act of physical violence, such as the different ways we react to different types of violence and whether that reaction is different when committed by a Black man. Additionally, people are discussing how chronic illness and disability often become easy targets for mockery and how that hurts people.

However, there have also unfortunately been plenty of objectively bad takes, including people who have compared Smith to Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin, or compared the situation in Ukraine to the situation on the Oscars stage. Others, especially U.S. right-wing mouthpieces, have managed to bring entirely unrelated subjects into the mix in a cynical attempt to score points with their base, and others have made extreme claims about the deadly potential of slaps.

If you want to feel more pain than Chris Rock did in his face Sunday night, feel free to check out some of the worst takes on the Will Smith slap that we could find:

1.

Should we be surprised that so many on the Left now believe that microaggressions should be met with actual physical violence? They’ve been clear about this for years.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 28, 2022

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Wait, they just let him stay at the show and win an award and justify what he did in his speech? Can you imagine if Will Smith was a white guy? Twitter would be all “if he were black they would’ve shot him. This is white privilege.” pic.twitter.com/OTnYhz7kjE

— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) March 28, 2022

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If Will Smith was a white guy, he would have been led out of the Oscars in handcuffs. Then police would have thrown him in jail.

There would be a thousand media hit pieces about him being ‘racist.’ He would be canceled for life.

Instead, he won Best Actor. That’s ‘privilege.’

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) March 28, 2022

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“Keep my wife’s name out of yo fuckin’ mouth!!!” — Vladimir Putin

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) March 28, 2022

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I’d say Will Smith hits like a girl… but I’m no biologist… #Oscars

— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) March 28, 2022

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So did like anyone walk out after that happened??? Or are we getting an independent psychological case study on how Trump got normalized?

— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) March 28, 2022

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Pull to conform to what is happening around you is a powerful tide. Applause for assault in a tuxedo in California is the same as applause for assault while wearing a red hat in Alabama. That was a crime. There was no virtue attached to it. None whatsoever.

— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) March 28, 2022

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UNCENSORED (Thank you Japan)——Will Smith should be ARRESTED. It’s not up to Chris Rock. The community cannot stand for this. pic.twitter.com/z8tJuaD5OR

— Greg Kelly (@gregkellyusa) March 28, 2022

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Dave Rubin: “It was Black-on-Black violence which people, obviously, treat a little bit differently. I suspect that if Matt Damon had gotten out of the crowd – very pasty, white Matt Damon…and smacked Chris Rock, there would be riots in the streets” pic.twitter.com/jtTh4B9rlw

— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) March 28, 2022

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13.

I had alopecia. It absolutely sucks, no doubt. (Cured it through diet, exercise and PRP.)

Am I allowed to slap Will Smith for ‘After Earth’? That movie was absolutely terrible… pic.twitter.com/hYodUvwlBH

— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) March 28, 2022

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“Love will make you do crazy things” — Will Smith, and most people in prison for murder #Oscars

— Jena Friedman (@JenaFriedman) March 28, 2022

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The will smith slap is one of those moments where it’s an absolute tragedy we no longer get to see trump’s posts

— David Sitrick (@davidsitrick) March 28, 2022

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So is it ok now for Trump to do a Will Smith on any reporter who insulted his wife ?

— Rooster (@RoosterFJB) March 28, 2022

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*First Published: March 28, 2022, 11:44 am