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Well Denzel Washington was right when he said to Will Smith last night that - 'at your highest moment, the devil comes for you'.Â
But the devil didn't just come for Will Smith, the whole Academy and Hollywood glitterati who witnessed it are also at fault here, I reckon.Â
They just sat there and acted like nothing happened, they carried on clapping, laughing.. why did they condone it? Why did absolutely no one working at the ceremony get on stage to check if Chris Rock was OK? Police were there, why did they do nothing? Security was there - nothing.Â
The hypocrisy here just blows my mind. Compare it to Kanye - banned from the Grammys for his Instagram comments about Pete Davidson, virtually cancelled by America's liberal elite for acting in their words – unhinged.Â
Yet Will Smith, a thug, who displayed uncontrollable anger assaulting someone on stage in front of millions of viewers, at a ceremony supposed to be about inclusivity, peace and love.. gets to remain at the event all night, go on to win an Oscar, give a 6 minute uninterrupted bizarre.. and highly inappropriate speech, then go on to party afterwards like nothing happened. Â
The hypocrisy here is next level. And how many celebrities who were there have spoken up about this since it happened?Â
Barely any. Â
Hollywood is complicit in its silence. Smith was seen dancing and joking holding his award last night, taking selfies, acting like nothing had happened. How was he not marched out of that Awards ceremony and arrested for assault? I don't care whether you agree Chris Rock’s joke was poor taste or not – in my opinion it probably was – but that’s what you get sitting front row at the Oscars – a roasting. They’ve all experienced it. Â
Yes, perhaps a bridge too far to make a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia condition, if Rock even knew about it - which is questionable - but to react the way Will Smith did, just showed an unhinged, angry, repressed and troubled man. To then go on and defend it, and talk about being a ‘vessel for love’ and wanting ‘to shine a light’.. and purporting that God is using him as some kind of ‘river of love’.. are you kidding me?Â
The irony is when Rock first made the joke, Will Smith laughed - it wasn't until Jada rolled her eyes that he changed his tune.Â
But to go on and try to defend the whole thing as an act of love? Right out of the abusers playbook.. ‘I love you so much I have to use violence to show it.’ What a disgusting example of how to behave.Â
Some I note are saying, oh it just represents the state of flux the world’s in right now. Â
Seriously?Â
Any attempt to justify that behaviour is completely misguided. He should've been immediately removed from the Oscars, made to apologise to Chris Rock, arrested and charged with assault. Not celebrated.Â
For a show trying to rebrand, reach out, find a bigger audience, be more inclusive.. the Oscar’s yesterday did the absolute opposite. Â
Shame on all of them.Â
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