Why did Will Smith really slap Chris Rock at the Oscars?
The dust has now settled following last week’s Oscars where Will Smith slapped Chris Rock live on television. Rock, making a GI Jane joke in reference to Jada Pinkett-Smith’s shaved head, was attacked by Smith who appeared to be acting in defence of his wife. Yet the reasons for Smith’s actions run far deeper.
It’s important to acknowledge the context of the joke in understanding why Smith may have been triggered. Jada Pinkett-Smith suffers from alopecia — a hair-loss condition. Rock claims he was unaware of this and the GI Jane joke would therefore have been an innocent, if not mediocre, joke around her appearance. However, we must recognise two factors at play here.
Firstly, hair is a significant feature of black identity and more so for black women. As a black man, Chris Rock knows this. Although he also knows because he made a film, Good Hair (which he’s alleged to have stolen the idea for from a black woman), about the relationship black women have with their hair. Pinkett-Smith has said she now embraces her shaved-head but her journey in reaching that point as a black woman would not have been easy.
