Yep, it seems like Will Smith slapping Chris Rock is the biggest thing to come out of the Oscars since, well, the days of the streaker. That smack is all that everyone can talk about, and it’s prompted discussions of Rock’s 2016 jokes about Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. One can expect plenty of debate about the quality of Rock’s 2022 GI Jane joke in question (it wasn’t great on its face) and the physical outburst wrought by Will, one that he followed up with a weepy speech (in which he rambled, “Love will make you do crazy things”) after winning Best Actor for King Richard.
As the chaos continues to swirl and The Academy mulls over doing something about this situation — ostensibly to prevent a reoccurrence and also to promote a better look — everyone has a take. That includes director/producer Judd Apatow, who weighed in during an interview with Sirius XM’s The Dean Obeidallah Show. In short, Apatow sees Will’s actions as a “mistake” that’s both “embarrassing” and “dangerous.” That last detail arrives with Apatow’s point that Smith is a role model to some, and he hopes that maybe some public lesson can be learned.
“[H]opefully it becomes a teachable moment where Will Smith can speak to people in an honest way about why that was not the way to go,” Apatow declared while noting that Will could spill himself with Jada on the Red Table Talk in days to come. “[O]ne assumes with all he does lately with the Red Table and all of that, that we will hear a very clear expression of why that was a terrible, embarrassing, and dangerous mistake. I’m hopeful that will happen.”
Apatow added that he’ll be “surprised” if Will doesn’t begin to communicate in that way on this subject “because, basically, if that becomes the way it is, then you know, what’ll happen to Ricky Gervais on the next Golden Globes?”
That’s a valid point. It’s already hard enough to get anyone to host the Oscars, and if that turns into people being afraid to present at the Oscars, as well, hoo boy. Then again, one never knows, maybe Chris Rock could step up again and host the whole damn thing again one day. Never say never, but one guesses that he’ll avoid any Will-and-Jada jokes. He’s been there and done that twice already.
(Via Sirius XM)
