HERE’S WHY WILL SMITH WAS RIGHT TO SLAP CHRIS ROCK AT THE OSCARS

Oscar nights had become dull these past few years to the point where there’s no point to watch the ceremony, care who’s nominated, nor even care for any drama that happens. This years was different, though. No one will ever forget that March 27th night as it was the night Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage for making jokes at his wife’s expense. But not only that, he also won an Oscar 10 minutes later. But let’s rewind a little bit just in case anyone missed the tea.

Chris Rock made a joke at the Oscar’s geared towards Jada Pinkett Smith’s expense, and compared her appearance to that of Demi Moore in her 1997 movie, GI Jane where she was bald. Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith’s wife and an actress in her own right, has been vocal about her battle with alopecia, an autoimmune disease which causes severe hair loss. After 4 long years of trying to hide her illness, she finally embraced it by shaving her head completely.

The whole world went into a frenzy. People couldn’t believe what had happened, and everyone literally started bashing Will Smith for what he’d done and praised Chris Rock for his composure after being slapped. While I agree that Chris Rock had a superb composure after being slapped for his insensitive joke, I don’t agree with all the negativity Will Smith has faced in the week since. I even felt obligated to write Will Smith a message on Instagram telling him that he did absolutely nothing wrong in defending his wife. Here’s exactly what I wrote to him:

‘Hi.

I just wanted to tell you that you did absolutely nothing wrong at the Oscars. Of course, there are other ways to defend your wife, especially at such a public setting, but at the end of the day, you were defending your wife. It was obvious, especially when I saw her reaction to the joke.

I’m a person with a disability and multiple illnesses. One illness I have is PCOS. I lost half of my hair, and I was balding at one point. It was heartbreaking. My husband would do the same thing. In fact, he did once threaten someone he’d get physical for making fun of me and my physical appearance and me having seizures.

As a significant other, you see all the behind the scenes that others don’t see, so I totally understand why you did what you did.

You absolutely deserved the Oscar and I hope you get to keep it. Also, I didn’t know Jada had the illness in the first place. I thought it was just a new look. And she’s totally rocking it!’

 Since I wrote to him, there have been other celebrities like Bill Maher degrading what Jada Pinkett Smith has gone through by saying that having alopecia by saying that the illness is ‘no big deal’. In reality, though, it IS a big deal. No illness should ever be degraded or belittled. No one ever really knows how an illness affects someone privately. In this case, we’re talking about a woman’s battle with hair loss. A woman’s hair, especially a black woman’s hair, is her pride. To lose it is like losing part of an identity. What’s so ironic to me about this whole situation is that Chris Rock made a whole documentary called ‘Good Hair’ in 2009 after his daughter asked him what it meant to have good hair and he couldn’t answer the question.

At the end of the day, we should all be compassionate and empathic. Chris Rock might not have known that Jada Pinkett Smith has alopecia, but he should’ve done his research before bringing his joke to life at the Oscars. Jada Pinkett Smith might’ve said she doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her shaved head, but she still has feelings, especially when someone’s making fun of her at her expense at such a public event for something she can’t control.