Academy Awards (Oscars 2022)

That is strange there is an Oscar donated and on display in the IFI in templebar.i think I agree with Joe Rogan view that the act was disgraceful but will smith shouldn't be hounded for it.

The most disturbing thing about this ordeal is the statement, I did it out of love. i'm sure most abusers would agree with that statement.

This is the same academy that banned Richard Gere for talking about Tibet, Susan sarandon and Tim Robbins about HIV.

They've awarded Woody Allen and Roman Polanski.

Then there's a host of winners and nominees with criminal records.

The incident gave the only talking point of the night really, because the rest was all meh

I think it makes sense alright... he won an award for acting talent last year, for which he was eligible. He then got in trouble for bad behaviour at the oscars, the punishment of which is being ineligible for the next 10 years of future awards.

How do you know he hasn’t apologised to her?

People like Weinstein & Polanski got to keep their Oscars. If the Academy took Smith's Oscar off him they leave themselves open to being challenged on it any time an actor steps out of line, or people calling for those previous Oscars to be called back etc. I'd say it's a door the Academy don't want to open.

Banning Will Smith from future events is the easiest thing they can do. They absolutely f*cked up by not having him removed right after the slap and still letting him go up and accept the award and make his speech. Now banning him is about the only thing they can do. Taking the Oscar off him means little when he already got to accept it and make his speech and be named Best Actor.

At this stage it's about damage limitation on the Academy more than anything else. Plus they likely don't have the power to do anything harsher. Any criminal assault proceedings are for Chris Rock to bring, not the Academy.

I find the reaction to this whole thing crazy in that Will Smith is seen as the bad guy in this. A man (comedian or not) makes a joke about a woman's appearance and hair loss in front of her husband and millions of people watching on TV and this is acceptable?

In the words of Junior Soprano... "a real lack standards your generation"

Most people aren't defending Chris Rock's joke. Personally, I think it was a bad joke. If Chris Rock wasn't aware of her alopecia and thought it was just a style choice (which is possible), it's likely it was a spur of the moment joke and wasn't planned. Either way, it just wasn't a great joke regardless.

But it also didn't warrant Will Smith walking up and slapping him on stage in front of millions of people watching, and physical assault is worse than a bad joke. Smith hurt himself more than he hurt Chris Rock with his actions.

Neither Smith nor Rock came out of it well, but yes, Smith is seen as the bad guy in this. The joke didn't warrant the assault, and it's unlikely Rock was trying to be malicious or hurtful (again, he may have thought it was a style choice rather than the result of her alopecia which he may not have known she had).

Making excuses that Rock didn't know about Jada's hair, when she has been a spokesperson on alopecia since 2018. Like the Academy don't fact check everything.

Personally, that's why I'm inclined to believe it was a spur of the moment joke by Rock and that he didn't know she had alopecia. She's been a spokesperson on alopecia, but that doesn't mean Chris Rock knew that. It's likely he just saw she had a shaved head and made that joke because that's the first thing that came to him. therefore no checking by the Academy of the joke beforehand. The joke likely wasn't scripted in advance. They would have had no idea if she'd show up wearing a wig or other headwear which would have made the joke completely redundant.

Not everyone knows JPS has alopecia just because she announced it previously and speaks out about it. Most people don't watch her shows or read celebrity news, especially as JPS isn't a major celebrity these days.

I agree a lot of the criticism and vitriol towards JPS is unwarranted. Given the history of her and Will's relationship I can see why people have a dislike towards her, but people trying to argue that she side-eyed Will and get him to go up and slap Rock, or that he only did it because he knew she's read him out of it if he didn't... there's no basis for that. That's just people's opinion. But in general, personally I do think she seems like a horrible person.

It was a bad joke by Rock and he shouldn't have made it. But pointing out that it was only a joke (again one which I believe there was no malice in and that he likely didn't know about her condition) and that he didn't deserve to be assaulted for it isn't the same as defending Rock.

You must only associate with idiots then.

As jokes go, this was tame and certainly didn't merit an assault. A worse joke wouldn't have either.

Jada is a ****. Well known in LA circles that she is a ****.

One other thing. If a man took sexual advantage of a young woman (early 20s) suffering mentally there would - correctly - be uproar. The whole family - including their idiot son - are fu*king bonkers.

Jada was a predator and August her prey.

She is the scumbag.

Will is just an idiot.