Did Anyone Win in the “Slap Heard ‘Round the World”?
It wasn’t the most disgraceful moment in the history of Academy Awards ceremonies. That one might well be when Black actor Hattie McDaniel—who ended up taking home the first Oscar ever presented to a performer of color—wasn’t even allowed to sit at the same table as her Gone with the Wind co-stars at the 1940 awards. Instead, was forced to occupy a segregated table in the back of the Cocoanut Grove nightclub.
Another contender: Four years before, when noted white supremacist filmmaker D. W. Griffith had received an honorary Oscar, after Nazi Germany’s passage of the 1935 Nuremberg Laws denying civil rights to Jews.
But the slap Will Smith delivered to host Chris Rock at the 94th Oscar ceremony in 2022 was a moment in its own right. Predictably, social media had a field day. Professional and amateur pundits all felt the strongest of compulsions to weigh in with opinions where none were asked for.
The Slap
Rock stood on stage at the Dolby Theater, holding an unopened envelope containing the name of that year’s Best Documentary Feature—the magnificent Summer of Soul—and he made a cruel, and unfunny, joke. Rock compared Jada Pinkett Smith’s baldness, caused by the auto-immune condition alopecia, to Demi Moore’s deliberately shaved head for the 1997 movie G.I. Jane. Pinkett Smith has struggled very publicly with the condition, calling it “terrifying.”
She and her husband, Will Smith, sat in their front-row seats smiling grimly for a few seconds. Will Smith then got up, headed straight for the comedian, and slapped him in front of the entire world. “Will Smith just smacked the [expletive deleted] out of me,” Rock marveled to the camera.
As he exited the stage, Smith was heard telling Rock to keep his wife’s name out of his [expletive deleted] mouth.
Later that evening, Smith was holding a Best Actor Oscar for his role in King Richard. In his acceptance speech, he described himself as a “protector” both on-screen and in real life. His apology to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences notably did not include Rock.
The following day, though, he publicly apologized to the comic, saying his behavior was “wrong,” that he’d been “out of line.” He also said he regretted not showing an example of “love and kindness” in the world. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, Rock declined to press charges.
The Rashômon Effect
But who won this A-List Battle Royale? Depends on who you ask.
Smith’s fellow Philadelphian Holly Robinson Peete hated it that Questlove, director of Summer of Soul, had been overshadowed by “this foolishness.” DJ Jazzy Jeff was oblique, tweeting, “What was that????” He then congratulated both Questlove and Smith on their Oscars.
Janet Hubert, who played the role of Smith’s aunt on the (original) Fresh Prince, made a post-Oscars Instagram post saying she was proud of her former co-star, with whom she’s recently reconciled after a long-running feud. Without defending either man’s actions, she said that sometimes you just have to “slap back.”
The hosts of ABC daytime show The View were all over the place. Ana Navarro pointed out that Smith’s assault on Rock was “a crime” out of proportion to Rock’s joke in “very poor taste.” Joy Behar was worried about fallout for her fellow comedians. Everyone wants comics to be “edgy,” she said, then when they are, “[people] get mad.” Sunny Hostin found Smith “immature,” and Whoopi Goldberg said, practically speaking, that the Academy would probably not strip him of the Oscar, particularly since Rock won’t take him to court.
Nicki Minaj expressed empathy for “what happens in a man’s soul” when he sees his woman about to cry from a “joke” that’s really an insult. “While y’all seeing the joke,” she tweeted, “he’s seeing her pain.”
Diddy told Page Six he knew for a fact that Smith and Rock had made peace. “It’s all love,” he said.
Most anyone who cares about these things is probably feeling some combination of a lot of these things.
Racism, Trauma, And Black Women's Hair
Experts who study racism and trauma point out that our responses to the slap will be as individual as our race, our gender, and our personal experiences. For many celebs and ordinary folks, it was just another raucous and “very Philly” moment. For a whole lot of viewers, it ranged from merely “unpleasant” to a horrific display of “toxic masculinity” that triggered memories associated with domestic violence.
For many Black women, celebrities and not, it was a rare moment in which they felt they’d been seen, defended, and championed, regardless of their personal position on violence. That’s the deeper issue right there, whether you come down on the side of man-the-protector-of-his-partner or those who rightly say that “there’s never an excuse for violent assault.” It’s the issue of Black women, their hair, and their dignity.
Alopecia, which generally refers to any abnormal hair loss, can affect both men and women of any ethnic background. However, one form of the condition is especially common among African American women. According to some experts, as many as 50 percent of Black women will develop “traction alopecia,” often caused by chemical and heat-based treatments, at some point.
One thing we can be sure of is that Black women’s hair has, as far as we know throughout human history, been a subject of intrusive speculation and frequent ugly “joking” from both outside and within their communities. Jada Pinkett Smith, who’s recently said she’s learned to love “this bald head of mine,” held a regal silence during and after the incident. She, and all Black women, are deserving of respect.
Regardless of the spotlight on two of our most famous men, we should be uplifting our Black sisters, mothers, partners, daughters, and friends as the real winners of the night. For showing so much solidarity and common sense, and for insisting on their right to celebrate themselves as full human beings, regardless of any medical condition or how they choose to wear their hair.