March 27, 2022: The Academy Awards ceremony is held at the Dolby Theatre in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Comedian Chris Rock is the host. CODA, a film with deaf actors playing deaf characters -- the titular acronym meaning "Child Of Deaf Adults," in other words, one who can hear -- clearly meant as "Oscar bait," won Best Picture.
Jane Campion won Best Director for Power of the Dog, making her the 3rd woman (and the 2nd in a row) to win the award. Jessica Chastain won Best Actress for playing Tammy Faye Bakker, wife of disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker, in The Eyes of Tammy Faye.
But none of the awards would be fresh in anyone's minds. All that could be talked about was the slap.
Rapper-turned-actor Will Smith was up for Best Actor for playing Richard Williams, father and coach of tennis superstars Serena and Venus Williams, in King Richard. Smith's personal life had become complicated. His wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith, had begun hosting a TV show titled Red Table Talk, where she invited anyone she wanted, and talked about whatever she wanted. This turned out to be mostly women, including her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, and her daughter with Will, Willow Smith, 21 years old at this point.
Will and Jada also have a son, Jaden, 23 at this time; and Will has a son from a previous marriage, Willard Carroll Smith III, a.k.a. Trey, then 29. It had previously been known that, before meeting Will, Jada had dated basketball star Grant Hill and rapper Tupac Shakur, both of whom she had known while growing up in Baltimore. She was badly shaken by Tupac's murder in 1996, and fans speculated that Tupac, not Will, remained the love of her life.
By 2013, rumors had spread that Will and Jada had an "open marriage," one in which cheating in sex was allowed. In 2020, rapper August Alsina, a friend of Jaden's, admitted that he had had an affair with Jada in 2016, with Will's permission. He was 23 and she was 44. Will denied having given permission. On Red Table Talk, Jada confirmed the affair, but also denied having gotten permission from Will, thinking that to be unnecessary because they were separated at the time. In 2021, Will admitted that both of them had cheated, because Jada was the one who "never believed in conventional marriage."
Chris Rock had made it big on Saturday Night Live in 1990, although he was there just 1 season, and had been making jokes about Will and Jada since their 1997 marriage. He was hardly the only comedian to make jokes about their deteriorating, but somehow still surviving, marriage.
But it wasn't a joke about their marriage that led to trouble. Rather, it was a joke about Jada's baldness. She has alopecia, which causes a person to lose their hair. So, to make her hair look even, she shaves her head completely.
In 1996, Demi Moore had shaved her head for the film G.I. Jane. In 2005, Natalie Portman got her head shaved for V for Vendetta. And in 2014, Charlize Theron had her head shaved for Mad Max: Fury Road. So an actress being intentionally bald for a role was still unusual, but hardly unheard of. But in Jada's case, it was an actual medical condition, and probably shouldn't have been joked about.
Rock was about to announce the nominees for Best Documentary Feature, when he saw Will and Jada in the audience. Off the cuff, he said, "Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2, can't wait to see it, all right?"
It wasn't like Rock and the Smiths were close enough friends that he could get away with something like that relatively easily. This was no "Rat Pack," where Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. could make personal jokes about each other, and it was all good, clean fun.
Much of the audience laughed. Even Will laughed -- at first. Then, he noticed Jada rolling her eyes, annoyed by the joke. Suddenly, he felt the need to avenge this woman whom he loved, but who had so recently humiliated him on TV, over a joke that a man they didn't know well had just told that she found, if not humiliating, then certainly annoying.
He walked up to the stage, walked across it, very calmly, and slapped Rock across the face with his open right hand. And then he walked back down to his seat.
The audience didn't know what to make of it. The Oscars had had some unusual incidents in the past. Was this planned? Smith was known for a calm, sometimes even jovial public image, and had never gone off on anyone in public before, unlike some other actors. (Two-time Best Actor winner Sean Penn was known for beating up paparazzi.)
The ABC censor had to activate the profanity switch for the 7-second delay of the broadcast, as Rock said, "Oh, wow! Wow! Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me." The audience laughed. They still didn't know whether this was planned or not.
From his seat, Smith yelled, "Keep my wife's name out your fucking mouth!"
Now, there were laughs, but also gasps, as people realized that Smith really was angry, and that none of this was planned.
Rock: "Wow, dude!"
Smith: "Yes."
Rock, apparently thinking that saying this would defuse the situation: "It was a G.I. Jane joke."
Smith, louder: "Keep my wife's name out your fucking mouth!"
Rock: "I'm going to, okay? I could, oh, okay. That was a... greatest night in the history of television, okay?" At this, the audience laughed.
Members of the Motion Pictures Academy of Arts & Sciences -- "The Academy," as in "The Academy Awards" and "I'd like to thank The Academy" -- went to event producer Will Packer, to suggest that Smith be removed from the theatre. Except he was still up for his award for Best Actor. The awkwardness of the situation was still increasing. Packer insisted that Smith be allowed to stay.
Forty minutes later, Smith was announced as the winner for Best Actor. He took the stage for his acceptance speech. He spoke of the need to protect those around him, but apologized to The Academy, to the other nominees, and to Serena and Venus, who were in attendance to represent their father. (Richard Williams was still alive, but had suffered strokes, rendering him unable to travel to the ceremony.) Smith received a standing ovation. But he did not apologize to Rock.
After the ceremony, award winners were advised to answer questions about their work, but nothing else. Los Angeles Police officers met with Rock, and told him that they were prepared to arrest Smith on charges of battery. Rock chose not to press charges.
Smith issued an online statement, resigning from The Academy, which ended up banning him from all Academy functions, including Oscar ceremonies, for 10 years. In his statement, Smith said to Rock, "I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness."
I guess it's a good thing I never became famous enough to host the Oscars: Given my infatuation with Catherine Zeta-Jones, her husband, Michael Douglas, would have killed me by now.
*
March 27, 2022 was a Sunday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 7 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Detroit Pistons, 104-102 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
* The Brooklyn Nets lost to the Charlotte Hornets, 119-110 at the Barclays Center.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 134-112 at the TD Garden in Boston. Jayson Tatum scored 34 points.
* The Washington Wizards beat the Golden State Warriors, 123-115 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.
* The New Orleans Pelicans beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 116-108 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. LeBron James scored 39 in defeat.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Utah Jazz, 114-100 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 114-104 at the Footprint Center (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix. Joel Embiid had 37 points and 15 rebounds, but it wasn't enough.
And there were 8 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-4 at Madison Square Garden. K'Andre Miller scored the winning goal with 2:58 left in overtime.
* The New York Islanders lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-1 at the UBS Arena.
* The New Jersey Devils beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 in a shootout at the Prudential Center.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Florida Panthers, 5-2 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings, 11-2 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. Evgeni Malkin had 3 goals and an assist. Sidney Crosby had a goal and 2 assists. Kris Letang had 3 assists.
* The Nashville Predators beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-4 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
* The Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, Kevin Fiala scored the winning goal, just 15 seconds into overtime.
* And the "new" Winnipeg Jets, formerly the Atlanta Thrashers, beat the Arizona Coyotes, formerly the "old" Winnipeg Jets, 2-1 at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg. Mark Scheifele scored the winning goal with only 10 seconds left in overtime.
No comments:
Post a Comment