Will Smith should apologise to all for spoiling Oscars 2022 with his toxic masculinity

After two years of subdued celebration with a limited audience and winners connecting remotely, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made great efforts to make the 2022 edition of the Oscar awards a grand success. It tried to cut short the awards by televising certain categories before going live, it included mentions of films that were voted by the audiences, it brought several legends on stage and even celebrated some iconic films at the event. Yet, 2022 will go down in history for Will Smith slapping comedian Chris Rock on stage over a joke on the former's wife.

First thing first, roast comedy has been a part of Oscars for decades where the hosts and a bunch of comedians and even actors come up on stage, take a jibe at their peers, their films before announcing awards. Sunday night was no different. Before Chris Rock, host Regina Hall too took a jibe at Smiths' open marriage which the couple smiled and seemingly took in their stride.

Rock's joke on Jada Pinkett Smith's hair was in bad taste. Pinkett Smith has been dealing with alopecia, an auto-immune disorder that leads to hair loss for years now and has been quite vocal about her struggle. Rock's comparison of her bald head to Demi Moore's look from 1997 'G.I. Jane' movie was rather unnecessary. Yet, did it call for getting smacked on his face by Will Smith live on television? Hell, no!

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What is it that makes certain men so consumed by their masculinity that they will feel they are the custodian of women's honour and if that honour has to be protected or defended, it has to be done through violence? As Jada sat sneering at Rock's comment, it was rather strange of Will Smith to walk up on stage and hit the comedian on his face! Sure, it was in bad taste. You don't like a joke, you can always take the person aside and tell him so. I would have even understood if Smith had just kept to his seat and said "Keep my wife's name out of your 'f-----ng' mouth."
The slap was not needed in a ceremony that from the beginning was condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine. On one hand, the Academy was condemning war and on the other, the Best Actor recipient was getting the liberty to smack a presenter for a joke! How ironical.

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Not only did Smith spoil the ceremony but also took away the focus from the winners of Best Documentary Feature- the category that Rock was on stage to announce. No one cared when the Oscar went to 'Summer Of Soul (Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)' because everyone was in utter shock.

During the commercial break, Smith was seen being consoled by Denzel Washington, Tyler Perry and Bradley Cooper. But who went to console Chris Rock? In the power corridors of Hollywood, most felt Smith needed to be consoled but strangely no one was seen saying a word of comfort to Rock? Why this bizarre discrimination?

Smith continued to behave like a douche (for the lack of a better word) through the night. As he went up on stage to accept his best actor trophy for 'King Richard' he cried and apologised to the academy and his fellow nominees, keeping the focus on him and how he acted out of 'love' like a crazy dad. No sir, dads are protectors, but violence and love are two different things. His son, Jaden reacted with a tweet saying, "And That's How We Do It" seemingly proud of his father's action and win perhaps. Will basically gave out a wrong message to the younger lot making violence the solution for things one didn't agree on.

At a time when war, violence and toxic behaviour are being condemned globally, a Hollywood star's display of love for his wife on live TV just reiterated the fact that how much learning and unlearning we need to do as a society. Jada Pinkett Smith has a voice of her own and uses social media as an able tool to speak on issues. Did she need her man to go up on stage and display how strong he is in front of the world? No. Did she at any point seem vulnerable that made Smith walk up on stage to protect her honour? No again.

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The Smiths have been open about their marriage and life in general. Be it on chat shows, where Jada Pinkett Smith had famously admitted to having cheated on Will Smith, to Smith writing in his memoir about their open marriage and hinting at how he had too philandered in the marriage, everything about their lives has been out in the open. So when you share so much information about your personal life, it will always be subjected to public scrutiny and commentary. You can't avoid it. And if the couple did not want people to comment on their lives, they should perhaps have healthy boundaries on what to divulge and what to keep a secret.

Smith eventually issued an apology to Rock on social media, perhaps as an afterthought when the Academy announced that it was weighing on the incident, and may take appropriate action, including possibly revoking his best actor Oscar. The apology came after a night of partying where Smith was seen dancing the night away, celebrating his win. The photographs did not somehow show a man who had any regret for his actions even though he mentioned he was 'wrong' in his apology a day later.

But doesn't the actor owe an apology to first-time winners Jessica Chastain, the makers of 'Summer Of Soul', Jane Campion, Troy Kostur and others who had the biggest night of their career getting completely overshadowed by a privileged, self-oriented man and his weird sense of responsibility? When will Will Smith issue an apology to them?

It was a night when a queer Latino woman won an Oscar (Adriana DeBose), a deaf man won for his performance(Troy Kotsur) and two female filmmakers were honoured for their work and it took two men to completely overshadow their moment under the sun with stupidity and violence.

Where's the apology for that?