TRIGGERED: My thoughts on Will Smith hitting Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars

Anyone reading this has likely seen Will Smith hit Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars. The incident, while shocking, was not completely out of character for either Will Smith or Chris Rock. To me, what’s more important than what happened is what each entertainer was trying to do. It would be easy to criticize and point fingers for either side, especially in Hi-Def and slow motion like they do in professional sports instant replays. But my mind veers toward exploring the possible intent of both Will and Chris in an effort to discover any silver linings.

[Disclaimer: Try to keep in mind that I am simply sharing my thoughts regarding this incident with those that may be curious. Feel free to have different thoughts or ignore mine altogether.]

1) Was Chris’ G.I. Jane joke inappropriate? Possibly, given that Jada struggles with hair-loss as a symptom of her diagnosed alopecia. But it was far from the most offensive jokes of Chris Rock’s career. This is not to say that anything other than his most offensive jokes are fine, but it is no secret that he is a comedian and part of an industry whose most elite members build success on telling jokes that are not afraid of being cringe worthy. Even Will has said in the past that some of the best jokes are ones where the audience is not sure if they are allowed to laugh. If Chris really wanted to offend Jada, he could have said a lot worse than comparing her to a bad-ass Navy SEAL portrayed by an iconic actress in an amazing fictitious action film. When he followed up the ill-received joke with “that was a nice one,” I agreed with him.

• Evidently, Will did not.

2) Will’s delayed reaction was in response to Jada, not Chris. Will’s initial reaction to Chris’ joke or even mentioning Jada was his typical laugh-and-clap. While Will embraces his sense of humor, he often uses this laugh-and-clap as a pause to assess a situation before moving forward with a thought or response. Will initially did the same thing that Lupita Nyong’o did behind him, which was to politely blend in with the audience while someone else in the room speaks in their direction. Jada attempted to do the same, but she involuntarily rolled her eyes. This is what poker players would refer to as a tell: an unconscious action that is thought to betray an attempted deception. We will probably never fully know why Jada was not able to keep it together the way Will and Lupita were, but she couldn’t and Will picked up on it. My guess is that, when the camera cut back to Chris, another gesture or look was given between Will and Jada that the TV audience never got to see.

• A few seconds later, Will stood up and started his stern approach towards Chris.

3) I do not think Will walked up to Chris intending to hit him. As much as Jada’s eye-roll and possible off-screen gesture to Will was impulsive, so was Will’s decision to reciprocate Chris’ perceived flub with one of his own. In Will’s book (a spectacular read that was just released a few months ago), he mentions at length and multiple times the demons he faces with cowardice. From childhood trauma of witnessing his father abuse his mother to allowing a subpar work environment for his son on the set of The Karate Kid, Will’s book documents vividly dark times in his life when he opts out of speaking up for himself and those he cares about. When winning the Best Actor award for his portrayal of Richard Williams later that evening, the usually well-spoken Will started his acceptance speech with “Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family.” To me, this was Will trying to align the cinematic character‘s mission with his own in a subtle attempt to justify his prior impulse to walk on stage toward Chris. The hit, while out of line, started as a man who is at a point in his life where he would rather lash out inappropriately than passively appear to condone something that bothers him. Looking back, we could speculate that Will could have simply parlayed his star power to utilize some less-combative methods of objecting. There are a dozen diplomatic things he could have done once he approached Chris but, alas, the hit was what he went with and it was what history will remember. Chris’ joke triggered Jada and Will was trying to be a noble husband… it just so happened to be in the heat of the moment while 6.9 million viewers were watching.

• Will’s decision to do something was not uncalled for; what he ended up doing was.

4) Will was dynamite and Chris was the detonator. To his credit, Will did return to his seat after hitting Chris but, unfortunately, his downward spiral had started and was not over. The hit across Chris’ face was a metaphoric fire extinguisher that was not enough to burn out the flame already burning inside Will who, by then, had become completely unhinged. His mistake was compounded when he doubled-down by heckling Chris from his VIP seat for another few seconds while Chris did what he could to compose himself and control the situation. At that point, Will was an emotional burn victim who had surrendered to the demons within him while Chris was a paramedic trying to prevent him from doing further damage to either of them in addition to everyone else around them and the TV viewers back home. Chris’ attempt at triage was adequate and admirable, but he first had to let the fire in Will painfully burn itself out. The way he cleverly de-escalated while still defending the content of his monologue showed what a true professional he has evolved into. Like a child protecting a younger sibling during a tantrum, his rebuttal of Will’s repeated barks to “keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth” was a phrase that will echo in my mind as an example of absolute genius: “I’m going to… ok?” Of all the retorts that Chris could have selected at that critical moment, I cannot think of one more perfect. Will’s explosion was ugly and his subsequent fire was worse, but Chris recognized and responded impeccably. Probably from a lifetime of dealing with hecklers and testy audiences and celebrities and controversial jokes, Chris remained cool, calm, composed, and collected. Eventually, the inferno in Will subsided and the rest of the evening went on without incident.

• Bravo to Chris, and eventually Will, for mitigating disaster and thus minimizing further avoidable damage or injury.

Sometimes, the best way to get past an obstacle is not by going around or retreating but by facing it head-on and forging through it. What’s done is done, but there are still questions left unanswered. What is the interaction history of these two seasoned veterans in different fields of the entertainment industry? If Will is like Michael Jordan, has Chris been a friend like Larry Bird or a foe like Isiah Thomas? Also, what are the rules for qualified immunity when pertaining to rich and famous celebrities in high-profile events such as the Oscars? Will tried to be a noble husband but ended up making a mistake. Chris possibly crossed a line but did what he could to overhaul. Odds are that this one eruption is not enough to make or break the careers or legacies of either Will or Chris, but it is enough that the media and the public will talk about it for a while. Either way, while the glamorous lifestyles of Hollywood entertainers may be unrelatable to most of us, they are still human and encounter situations that might not be as unrelatable as they seem at first glance.