Understand the controversy surrounding Jada Pinkett Smith at the 2022 Oscars

The scene that marked the 2022 Oscars ceremony was the moment when actor Will Smith, winner of the category of Best Actor of the night, stood up from the audience and slapped comedian Chris Rock, who made a joke of the appearance of his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. For a few minutes, the question remained whether it was staged. Soon came the confirmation from the Academy, it was a real and tense reaction.

See the moment it happened:

The bullshit in #Oscars was not agreed: Chris Rock made a “joke” about Jada’s shaved head, who has already talked about her hair loss problem. Will Smith thought it was inappropriate, punched Chris live, and told him to take his wife’s name out of his mouth.”pic.twitter.com/SypSSbIC1r

— Women’s Tips (@) March 28, 2022

Understand the great controversy of the Oscars 2022

Chris Rock, one of the presenters of the evening, made a comment associating Jada with the character GI Jane, played by Demi Moore in the film The Edge of Honor, who shaves her hair to enter the navy. Jada was clearly uncomfortable with the comparison. The actress suffers from alopecia, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss, and has spoken out repeatedly on the subject in interviews and social media.

“It was scary when it started. I was in the shower one day and then I had handfuls of hair in my hands. It was one of those times in my life where I was literally shaking with fear.”

After returning to his seat, the actor still shouted for the other to take his wife’s name out of his mouth, amid a tense and nervous atmosphere. Rock continued his performance and minutes later Smith received the best actor award for the film King Richard: Raising Champions. In his speech, he apologized to the Academy and compared himself to his character, saying he was a “strong supporter of his family”.

Smith further stated that “In this business, you have to put up with people talking nonsense about your family and not responding”, but that “love makes you do crazy things”. The emotional speech was applauded by the audience and the actor ended up joking that he hoped to be invited to other ceremonies.

Smith’s reaction comes in context: in 2016, Jada Pinkett Smith participated in the #OscarsSoWhite movement’s proposal to boycott the Oscars due to the lack of representation of black people in the nominations. This year, the comedian had also been a presenter and made derogatory comments about her, such as “Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties… I wasn’t invited”, in addition to having made other comments related to the life of the girl. family on social networks.

It is worth remembering that Rock produced “Good Hair”, a documentary about the importance of hair for black women. The name means “good hair” and has the participation of several black women reporting their experiences with hair and its weaknesses, demonstrating that the comedian is aware of the delicacy of the subject.

Repercussion of the fact among black personalities

Soon, various opinions and comments about what happened began to appear on the internet, both from people accusing Will Smith of being disproportionately violent and who considered that Rock got what he deserved.

Philosopher Djamila Ribeiro posted on her social network about the social issues involved in the actor’s attitude: black women are not part of the “myth of female fragility”, nobody protects them because it is always assumed that they “put up with everything” due to their conditions. histories, which come from centuries of slavery. “Easy to judge Will Smith. It is difficult to look in the mirror and see racism itself, it is difficult to admit it because it bothers so much to see a black woman being defended.”

Many black women felt represented at that moment when someone stood up to defend one of them, a fact that rarely happens, especially in public situations. Other reactions highlighted the symbolic and psychological violence that women, especially black women, are culturally subjected to, and that claiming that it was just a joke is a way of minimizing their suffering. Nicki Minaj stated:

“You have witnessed in real time what happens in a man’s soul when he looks at the woman he loves and sees her holding back tears for a ‘little joke’ at her expense. That’s what every real man feels at that moment. While you are seeing the joke, he is seeing her pain.”

Throughout the ceremony, there were several moments where women were used as jokes in a derogatory way. Both Penelope Cruz and Kirsten Dunst were referred to only as “such a person’s wife” even though they were nominated in other categories.

The question is not exactly “how far the humor is” or what can and cannot be used as a joke, but why the frailties of women, especially black women, are open to public judgment and laughter. And yet, why continuous psychological violence against women causes less repercussion than an isolated case of physical violence against a man in reaction to his speeches.