Chris Rock dressed like a black 007 looked a little shaken but not too stirred after receiving what looked more like a table tennis forearm smash than a bitch slap from Will Smith’s reaction to a deemed inappropriate GI Jane joke about Will’s wife Jada’s alopecia condition. After initially laughing at the joke and probably like Carlsberg receiving the “If Tupac was here” look from his wife Jada, Sir Willston of Smithston decides to get medieval and become the black knight who rides in on his charger to defend the honour of his damsel in distress, his queen in green Jada Pinkett Smithston, and also curse her tormentor out.

There is history dating back to 2016 when there was a boycott of the Oscars from many black entertainers including Jada Pinkett Smith which Chris Rock attended and both parties publicly dissed each other in the process. Will and Jada’s open relationship curriculum activities have been aired publicly to the point that 12 days earlier comedienne Rebel Wilson cracked a joke about the couple at the Baftas. Now there was a split in opinions on whether Will was justified in physically attacking Chris for allegedly defending his wife’s honour with many suggesting he was 100% correct. So would those who think he had just cause have the same opinion if Will had attended the Baftas and did the Ray Carling of ‘Scum’ hard man bowl walk towards the stage to then bitch slap Rebel Wilson for rubbishing his wife? Well seeing as she is a woman and a white woman at that.. you can write your answers on a postcard.

In my humble opinion I don’t condone both Will or Chris for their varying inappropriate behaviour. Will Smith let his ego and his emotions get the better of him because of the immense pressure that comes with living in that fame world. He coulda and shoulda dealt with his outburst privately and without exposing himself and Chris, two experienced black professionals, to the stereotypical ridicule that our (people of the African Diaspora and indigenous African descendants) oppressors have bestowed upon us, and that much of the outside world have adapted and expect to see as that negative black on black epidemic we exercise amongst ourselves. The white on white violence dating back to the Romans, the Cowboys or the 20th century Italian and Jewish gangsters eras never get tarnished or highlighted in the same way and yet the violence is openly glorified.

I get that he is upset but he could have been the bigger man and owned his Foster Sylvers ‘Misdemeanour’ without having Sean ‘Puff Daddy’ Coombes allegedly needing to call a truce between Will and Chris to squash their beef. To those who think this part of the post is race bating, and what happened was between two humans who are both fallible. Correct… but also think on this, why is it so highly publicised that Will Smith is the 5th black man to win an Oscar in almost 100 years of the ceremony heavily overseen by white people? These are two high profile black men who against the uneven odds are in this positions as positive role models to give hope to those from their cultural community, a sense of pride that against those uneven odds in the racist abyss they swim in, that they too can achieve great things. That alone shows it has everything to highlighting race and the cultural importance. The struggle continues. Words inspired by the Oscars and a few songs from my youth!! Peace Fitzroy