I had a couple of potential topics in mind for my #MM post today -- and yes, I was thinking I might post something about last night's Oscar awards ceremony, something I've often posted about in the past. (Who wore the best/worst dresses? Who gave the best/most bizarre acceptance speech? etc. etc...)
The Oscars aren't what they used to be (and I haven't been inside a movie theatre since January 2020) -- but I haven't missed one in the 50+ (!) years that I've been watching. (Aside from 1979, when I was a high school student working part-time at Woolco, and missed the first hour of the ceremony, and 1989, when I unwittingly bought us tickets to "Phantom of the Opera" for the same night. We set the VCR, got home in time to see the final few awards presented anyway, and watched the whole show the following evening with popcorn, fast-forwarding through the commercials. Which is not actually a bad way to do it...!)
But I've never seen anything quite like what transpired onstage last night.
As I later said to a few people on Facebook (and on my own page) -- it was a pretty dumb joke from Chris Rock. Even if he didn't know about Jada Smith's alopecia, it shows there's a good reason why you should never make jokes about people's appearances. (And as I watched the replays this morning, you can see that Will Smith actually laughed, at first -- I guess until he saw his wife's reaction.)
But violence is not an acceptable reaction (nevermind onstage at the Oscars!). He obviously realized that, by the time he gave that tearful, rambling acceptance speech, trying to mansplain away what he'd just done.
It's the crowning moment of your professional career, dude (or supposed to be) -- and in a matter of seconds, you just destroyed a lifetime of careful image-building by letting your temper get the best of you.
(You also robbed every other nominee and winner in the room that came onstage after that slap from their own full, rightful moment of glory in the spotlight.)
Not his (or Chris Rock's, or Oscar's) finest moment.
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.
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| Chips, Coke, Oscar ballot (to track the winners on) and a pen. Ready for Oscar night!! (But totally unprepared for what happened!) |
I used to religiously watch the Oscars and the red carpet, but no longer. I'm kind of glad! (Though I've now seen footage.) Yes, neither man enhanced his reputation, did they? At least Will seemed to feel some remorse. (Though I didn't see all of his speech.)
ReplyDeleteThe look on Jada's face at the "joke" - reminded me a little of CNBC women responding to "jokes" about us not having kids. I felt for her.
At least in NZ we are getting some footage of NZer Dame Jane Campion winning for best director, her second nomination. And only the first (or second?) time a woman has received two nominations for best director.
I'm late to this, and so many have speculated and deconstructed it. Clearly there is something going on for WS that is deeper than we (need to ) know.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I find it curious that being compared to Demi Moore in GI Jane was considered an insult. Doesn't anyone remember Demi Moore in GI Jane??