"'Things unfolded in a way we could not have anticipated,' the academy said in a statement. 'We also recognize we could have handled the situation differently.' The revelation came after the academy’s board of governors met to initiate 'disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy’s Standards of Conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the Academy.'" WaPo reports.
The top-rated comment over there: "How hard is it to call security and walk him out like you would have done for anyone else walking on stage and committing an assault then sitting back down and yelling obscenities? The Academy failed, and does not need three weeks with lawyers to figure out what they should have done."
Second highest-rated comment: "The fact that he sat back down laughed clapped and partied all night with other Oscar winners and nominees says a lot. Disgusting."
I'm not buying "was asked to leave... but... refused." It was not a serious asking if he could just refuse!
Mr. Smith, would you like to leave?
No.
Posts
78 comments:
What an attractive squirrel.
Gotta keep all those women from noticing that they released the receipts on Hunter.
Technically Los Angeles county doesn't need Chris Rock's permission to press charges. While it may be highly unusual to pursue charges without the victim's go ahead but this is an unusual situation. I suspect if Los Angeles pursued charges the story of many people involved would change. It is a misdemeanor battery. It doesn't deserve any jail time. But nothing focuses the mind quite like criminal prosecution.
how many in audience [live / viewing] appreciate laugh to GI Jane 2 joke?
have we seen reaction shot, laugh track?
also read about Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry come to comfort Will Smith.
Chris Rock had no support ?posse?
There's a fun video going around, about a Karen on a plane, that
DEMANDS that the man in the Trump shirt sitting next to her, be forced to move
(either to another seat, or off the plane, it's not clear)
SO, the flight attendants first tell her to be quiet.. She Refuses
THEN! the flight attendants "ask her" to get up out of her seat; and she refuse, asking
WHY?
and they tell her, because she is being removed from the plane..
And SHE REFUSES; saying "This Is MY SEAT! I PAID for THIS SEAT!!!"
(which is interesting, because the Trump shirt guy paid for His seat too)
Then, an Air Marshal takes her off the plane, to the cheers of the crowd
I'm thinking the Will Smith asking was about the same
I’ve seen a lot of arrests go bad on video b/c “someone”’refused to cooperate…
Just saying.
Being asked to leave is not the same as being told to leave.
Where do they think they are - Starbuck's?
… compromising the integrity of the Academy.
Ha ha, the integrity!
As the producer and tenant that provided the forum for personally insulting language, which caused a breach of the peace, the Academy was well within their rights to ask him to leave, but evidently didn't wish to press the point.
Choosing to discipline Smith for reacting to "fighting words" that AMPAS bought and paid for opens them to a yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge legal liability, and they're liable to be the second party to get b***h-slapped over this incident if they offer anything more than a stern tutt-tutting. What they should do is send a letter of apology for Rock's joke to Jada Smith, and walk away quietly and quickly.
Which about 5000 lawyers have probably pointed out to them, and 10,000 more are waiting to take on for Smith on contingency if common sense fails AMPAS a second time.
Rock was the mistake. Smith was the cure. I'm betting dollars to donuts Rock - not Smith - has seen the inside of the Oscars for the last time in his adult life. He should enjoy whatever boost that gives his stand-up career, because it's all he's going to get, unless the Academy wants to give pro wrestling and roller derby a run for their money.
This was billed as an awards show for the most talented artists in the industry (famously including Smith, not Rock), not a night with Don Rickles and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog roasting everything with legs. Whoever greenlighted Rock for the emcee job just retired from producing, whether they know it or not. Smith, OTOH, was there for his third nomination for Best Actor, tying him with Morgan Freeman, and trailing only Denzel, among black actors.
Rock stepped over the bounds of defensible propriety with insulting language, the textbook definition of "fighting words", and Will Smith enforced notice of that. Smith punching him in the mouth backstage afterwards would've been better all around, but the nature of delivering "fighting words" is that they provoke the exact breach of the peace that happened, rather spontaneously.
Perhaps if AMPAS selected emcees for class, rather than the ability to be the offspring of a horse and a donkey in public, they wouldn't be faced with owning their poor choice of emcees at this point in time, but hindsight is 20/20. If it gets better Oscar emcess going forward, and fewer stand-up clowns with no sense of propriety, everyone wins.
And I'm betting we've heard the last wife joke at the Oscars for some good time.
I don't know either of the participants so have an unbiased view. Nobody cares.
Hmmmm......is Will Smith coming out of the closet??
Black celebrity privilege.
Yeah-if a complete nobody did what Smith did, he wouldn't wouldn't asked to leave, he would tossed out to the waiting arms of the LAPD.
Would you really want a security guard to ruin their life by being seen marching this particular star out of the auditorium against his will -- something that would appear in close-up video on every newscast within hours? It's something that person would be associated with forever, and not in a good way.
Can they eventually assimilate to American standards? 400 years on and it's still dicey.
Black privilege.
Go on, tell me it doesn't exist.
This is what should have happened:
"I want you to exit this guy off the premises, and I want you to use his head to open the fucking door"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEXdIxl3m54
AMPAS and class? Take the "serious" playactors seriously and don't let the comics make jokes . . . Three-time nominee! Talent!
Aesop, you're such a fabulist. Or a child.
Talk about hysterical. ITs not like Chris Rock was hurt. He literally laughed it off. And its gotten him more publicity than actually telling jokes at the Oscars. And I still think the whole thing was staged.
Its amazing to go back and listen to the Bob Radio broadcasts of the Oscars from the 40s. The whole thing was actually fun. Hollywood was still trying to put a good face on their "industry".
LOL. This gets better and better.
I seriously am rooting for a bar room brawl in the Oscar audience. Injured and bloody nominees! or perhaps the host will get shot to death for telling a bad joke. (not that I want Chris Rock or anyone shot to death) I'm just imagining the cluster-F* and smiling in the abstract.
Idiocracy on display.
Perhaps this was all for the Biden crook clan?
I have litigated against AMPAS. They have outside lawyers on site for the ceremony (and LAPD is inside the building, not just outside). In my day it was Quinn Emanuel. If the producers or AMPAS had seriously asked Smith to leave word would have leaked out earlier than now since that was the big criticism immediately. If they had concerns about creating a scene at a live tv broadcast they could have followed the lead of the Olympics and announced they were deferring the best actor award until another day. Which they should have done regardless since it's easier to cut Smith out before he gets his statue.
One of many things Chris Rock could have said after the slap: "Do you remember when I said years ago that I love black people, but I hate n-----s? Well, case in point!"
Hollyweird Privilege
"disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy’s Standards of Conduct" If they let people insult other people's wives on stage, they don't have standards of conduct.
Aesop--I'd love to see a Constitutional scholar offer a primer on "fighting words" but I'm pretty sure it involves more than "someone said something that hurt my feelings and now I want to fight them." 🤣
Althouse, where did your discipline go? What's next, a post about what he was wearing?
Two guys got in a fight in the ceremony formerly known as the Oscars. Or one got in a fight.
Sic transit gloria.
The second he refused to leave they should have called the cops and had him arrested.
Would you really want a security guard to ruin their life by being seen marching this particular star out of the auditorium against his will
I wanted a police officer to be seen marching him out in handcuffs.
Video or it didn't happen. That's what I'd say to the Academy about their allegation that they requested Smith leave. Or maybe someone asked backstage in a loud whisper, and expected Smith to hear it in the front row?
More excitement about this particular pop in the chops than the Oscars have managed to garner in the last ten years. There's that word garner again.
Seriously the Oscars have been a snoozefest for at least 15 years. A cynic might say that the Oscar organizers planned this "mortal blow" to get attention.
There is video but no audio of a co-producer conferring with Smith at a commercial break.
Bottom line: only stupid people think Rock's remark was an insult.
Bad joke? Sure. Insult? Only when the stupid WOC didn't get it, and poor pussy-whipped Will had to act like her honor had been impugned.
There was a healthy reason that earlier generations treated theater people as only a step above pimps and whores.
Doesn’t Smith own a yacht? Seize it!
didn't smith have to wait around to get his Oscar?
Anyway, I agree with a comment made above. Guarantee me a no-hold barroom brawl and I'll watch in 2023.
"the nature of delivering "fighting words" is that they provoke the exact breach of the peace that happened"
It seems that Smith's immediate reaction was a chuckle, hinting that there may have been an intervening cause.
Where's the equity for celebs who aren't/don't have a large male spouse? In the future, every celebrity nominee will be allowed to bring a designated bitch-slapper to defend the honor of his/her/xer and spousal unit? No more jokes about the talent. Boy, that should make for some gripping TV.
Being the biggest crime of the last fifty years, and everybody wanted to
Get in the newspaper story about it. And they was using up all kinds of
Cop equipment that they had hanging around the police officer's station.
They was taking plaster tire tracks, foot prints, dog smelling prints, and
They took twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles
And arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each
One was to be used as evidence against us. Took pictures of the approach,
The getaway, the northwest corner the southwest corner and that's not to
Mention the aerial photography.
I read the headline and did like J. Jonah Jameson
Imagine a world in which every teen aged punk woke up yesterday thinking: "Holy shit! if they'll lock up a (N word) like Fresh Prince, what the fuck will they do to me?" and decide not to commit any violent acts that day?
Howard please stay on topic. This post is about the hugely important controversy at the academy awards ceremony. Please hold your comment until the blogger posts about the Biden crime family’s heist of the century. Thank you.
It’s been awhile:
https://althouse.blogspot.com/search?q=Hunter+Biden&m=1
Gilbar,
I love the video of the lady on the plane.
It is not recent though. It is from Jan 24 2017
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tasneemnashrulla/woman-kicked-off-flight-for-insulting-pro-trump-passenger
John LGBTQBNY Henry
I note in passing that the entire rest of the audience remained, rather than leaving after the violence.
I...... DON'T...... CARE....
JMR said...
Can they eventually assimilate to American standards? 400 years on and it's still dicey.
==========
go easy on there : wasn't there Presidential duels etc. exempli gratia
Security: Mr. Smith, we're going to have to ask you to leave.
Smith: Fuck you.
Security: Very good, sir. Thank you, sir.
Black movie star privilege and fuck you money is a wonderful thing...
'The second he refused to leave they should have called the cops and had him arrested.'
And if he still refused to leave, they could have tackled him and kneeled on his neck.
What? Too soon?
I wanted a police officer to be seen marching him out in handcuffs.
=========
if officer wore mask [for protection multi-layer nuance] will arrest be legal miranda etc.
Rock shouldn't have made the joke and Smith shouldn't have slapped Rock. Both have said as much and that to me that should be the end of the story. It's ridiculous to talk about the movie industry and its employees as having any sort of standards. They don't and no one expects them to, including Disney which is doing its best to destroy its brand.
Meade said...
"https://althouse.blogspot.com/search?q=Hunter+Biden&m=1" (Sic)
Meade with his usual competence.
Joe Smith
"Black movie star privilege"
Polly want a cracker. Joe gets so hard when a black person does something stupid.
Thanks Meade and Howard. Thoroughly enjoying this thread.
It's not the crime. It's not even the cover up. It's the standing ovation that he got immediately after the crime.....Chris Rock may or may not have been out of line with his joke. I didn't think it was particularly funny or offensive, but I'm not aware of all the subtle nuances of Jada's hair, the Smith marriage, and their history with Chris Rock....Not much nuance in the way Will Smith reacted though. That was ugly and wrong and indefensible....I can see why the AAMPAS didn't forcibly remove him. That would have made a bad situation worse. I suppose they could have declined to present his award, but that's Monday morning quarterbacking....What I don't understand is why the assembled crowd jumped to their feet and gave Smith a standing ovation. They at least waited a decent interval before they gave Polanski his award....Jim Carey said the whole spectacle nauseated him. I don't often look to Jim Carey for moral guidance, but he had the correct response.
'Polly want a cracker. Joe gets so hard when a black person does something stupid.'
If you're denying that black movie stars have immense privilege then you're dumber than I thought.
Wait. That's not possible.
Quaestor's not buying any of this. This entire imbroglio was from the beginning a concoction designed to achieve what it has achieved. (i.e. beginning months ago when the Oscars ceremony producers noticed their ad revenue had fallen to avarice level when they were expecting beyond the dreams of)
Quaestor is usually right, but not about this. It was as real as fuck. Everyone except Rock comes out looking bad, and he couldn’t have counted on that since he let a guy give him the business end of the bitch hand. A stunt like this has to have a significant upside for everyone in order to get past all of the personal PR reps, agents, and attorneys, not to mention, the officers and board of the Academy and show producers. This would have had stink finger on it from the first mention of it.
- Krumhorn
Enforcement is an adult responsibility, thus, abridge too far.
I haven't heard, did anybody win an Oscar this year?
Someone up there said Chris Rock used fighting words. Lol.
This is kind of like a couple arguing in the parking lot.
It interesting for a few seconds, but then you realize they are both wrong and deserve each other.
Trump fan Don Surbur shares a great tweet vid showing a woman who was being abusive.
https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2022/03/highlights-of-news_01789188762.html
I find his news summary an excellent alternative view from yours. Almost utterly opposite, without being contradictory.
I saw a Babylon Bee note about how Smith could smooth things over & apologizing by letting Rock sleep with his open marriage wife - others suggest Smith was really more enraged about being cuckolded so often, so publicly by her, but striking Rock after his vulgar remark was far less socially unacceptable than striking is semi-cheating wife. (not really cheating if it's in the "rules").
I thought Meade was going to tell Howard to pick up the garbage.
You know when you use the search box to look for something in the archive, the URL you get, the one Meade gave you...
"https://althouse.blogspot.com/search?q=Hunter+Biden&m=1"
You don't get the posts in chronological order. Find the tag, and click on that, and you'll see the posts in order, newest to oldest...
https://althouse.blogspot.com/search/label/Hunter%20Biden
You'll see there was a Hunter Biden post on March 21, 2022
It's not my style to do a post just because there is a news update. My standard of bloggability is a mystery that you cannot understand.
The tone is getting more serious against Smith as people take some time to think through the implications of what happened--the slap and the reaction of the audience. The Academy, which I'm sure initially intended to do nothing, is now trying to act like it is has been a responsible player all along.
"Will Smith on day 3 of the best sex he's ever watched."
https://twitter.com/FearTheFloof/status/1509273208771465219
Vault Dweller is correct. You don't need the cooperation of the victim of an assault to press criminal charges. I was a prosecuting attorney for decades. If you have video or witnesses, you don't need the cooperation of the victim to get a jury to convict, even if thee victim won't cooperate. In this case we have great video, and millions of witnesses. I would have gladly taken this case to trial without the cooperation of the victim.
Maybe it's just the sadist in me, but now I'd really like to see a comedian, preferably a male, really make an example of Jada Pinkerton. Let the Smiths squirm.
Chris Rock's joke was a nothing-burger.
Come to think of it, I probably wouldn't like it for more than a few seconds, but there's a stench of privilege oozing out of the Smiths, and I'm just not sympathetic.
As it turns out, Smith may not have been asked to leave. Certainly, not directly. Somebody has fibbed about that. Folks from inside the Academy leadership are leaking that the show producer told Smith that they wanted him to stay.
I accept the argument that, as a nonprofit that must operate under its bylaws for decision-making, there was not enough time for the Academy leadership to form a consensus about what to do...although they had over 20 minutes to do so. Still, the shame is that the audience members did not sit on their hands and remain silent when Smith's name was announced as a winner. THAT would have been an amazing statement of repudiation.
But this lying about it later is ruinous for them.
- Krumhorn
Russell Brand Reacts To Will Smith Slap
interestingly calls it collapse of a make believe culture -
has quite a vocabulary and definitely better educated
so is Biden the fish used by D's to slap American Electoral system? === in Monty Python routine
"Black privilege.
"Go on, tell me it doesn't exist."
It doesn't.
But celebrity privilege does.
The prevailing opinion now is that this is fake news. CYA from TAMPAS.
Was there anything wrong with the joke? Other than maybe that it wasn't very funny? It seemed quite mild. The only thing I could object to is that Rock wasn't the host. He was just supposed to present an award and should just have done that. Maybe he'd already made other jokes about Pinkett in the past and that angered her.
I don't see the slap as something fake or pre-planned. Will Smith unleashed a torrent of rumors that most of the country wasn't aware of and memes that essentially call him a cuckold. Nobody wants that to happen to themselves. The talk that he is gay, though, really hasn't resurfaced much. Maybe the guy does just like to watch.
In the future, we'll look back on the standing O more than what he actually did on the stage as the moment AMPAS swallowed the cyanide.
Honestly, I have heard enough from the motion picture pissants of arts and science.
Ann Althouse said...
"You know when you use the search box to look for something in the archive, the URL you get, the one Meade gave you..."
If Meade was Will Smith he would have insisted his wife go up to the stage and confront Rock.
Blogger Joe Smith said...
"If you're denying that black movie stars have immense privilege then you're dumber than I thought."
Unlike you, I really don't give a shit. But then I'm not a Cracker.
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