If the LORD tarries, the 2022 Oscars will be replayed again and again for “The Slap” heard around the world.
Will Smith slapped (hard) the face of Chris Rock for a joke the comedian made about Will’s wife, Jada Smith, and the very short haircut she carries (Jada is completely bald). Chris, the comedian, made a joke about Jade starring in G.I. Joes II – a reference to the movie G.I. Joe where the female movie star shaved her head bald.
Jade Smith has a medical condition that causes her to lose her hair. Will Smith did not like the comedian using his wife as the center of a joke, so Will Smith walked to the Oscar Platform and “slapped the &$%* out of Chris Rock (the comedian’s description of the act, not mine).
The Internet seems divided over the appropriateness of Will Smith’s slap of Chris Rock.
Some people say, “Will was defending his wife!” and justify the slap. Others say, “That was a physical assault on a comedian whose job it is to make fun of people!”
QUESTION: Jesus said, “I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.” (Matthew 5:39). What should be Chris’ response?
It would seem to me that Christians would “turn the other cheek.”
But the bigger QUESTION is: “Can a follower of Jesus Christ be a comedian and make fun of people?”
There may be no safe or sure answer. But the 2022 Oscars ensured we will be discussing turning the other cheek for decades to come.
An interesting event with some moral and ethical issues that could use some light from people of conscience, yes. I look forward to the national discussion on these issues as framed in the parameters of the ‘slap’ and what prompted it.
I think even Will Smith understands the ‘conflict’ from his apology to the Academy for his action. But Smith did NOT apologize to Chris Rock directly, no. And it could be seen on video that Smith’s wife was offended by Rock’s ‘joke’.
When does a ‘joke’ fail to be a joke? As the mother of a son with Down syndrome, I have been privy to some very ‘sick’ so called ‘jokes’ from people and in one case, I later spoke with the individual privately and let my own feelings be known. She had made ‘fun’ of our bowling team with myself, my husband, and the also the parents of a severely physically and cognitively challenged son who had suffered terribly. The ‘mom’ of this boy had tried to cope with his care for years and she was a ‘wreck’ as her own confidence and health was visibly diminished.
In making a joke involving her, the perpetrator had ‘crossed a line’ and needed to be challenged, which I did, somewhat in anger, I admit.
I was ‘used to’ that kind of thing in those days, but to see it aimed at an innocent like the mother of that very ill child, that was too much for even my patience. Did it do any good to confront the perpetrator? I don’t know. Did it relieve me of my anger towards her? No.
It took an ‘intervention’ for me to ultimately feel ‘sorry’ for the perpetrator who herself had had a difficult life and was likely ‘acting out’ some of her own pain for a cheap laugh from the couple with her who had their OWN problems. Sometimes there are no winners, but when certain ‘lines’ are crossed, and a ‘response’ is called for, we CAN ask this: was the ‘response’, even as it was, provoked by a need to defend an unfairly attacked person??? If so, depending on the degree of that response, at least some ‘sense’ of WHY comes forward.
Distain, contempt, amusement, bullying, all are seen these days by large crowds who applaud ‘the pointing of the finger’ towards those less ‘valued’ and the ‘joker’ speaking is seen as an amusing entertainer. By SOME people, yes.
Some cultures thrive on put-downs and belittling others, and only fear keeps the bullies from being confronted.
I’m not judging Will Smith or Chris Rock, no. But I felt sorry for Will’s wife. She did not deserve the focus placed on her out of lack of sensitivity at what some may call ‘a cheap shot’ by a person calling himself a friend of her husband’s, no.
Do Christians ‘defend’ attacks where someone makes fun of a person who is handicapped or ill???? Or do they look ‘away’ and say nothing?
Or do they RESPOND? And if so, in what ‘spirit’ is their response to be intended???
an interesting post, Wade, thank you
Christiane,
This sounds better if someone read it to you: “Have you heard Biden is in the hospital? He can’t stop putin.”
Wade,
Even though Jesus said when slapped to turn the other cheek in Matthew 5:39, he didn’t turn the other check in John 18:22-23 NLT: “Then one of the Temple guards… slapped Jesus across the face…Jesus replied, “If I said anything wrong, you must prove it. But if I’m telling the truth, why am are you beating me?”
Wade,
There’s a saying there’s no fool like an old fool. Last week, I was in a check-out line at Walmart and my cellphone rang. Someone wanted me to give a $100 to Ted Cruz. (I’d given him much more before by check.) So, I gave them my bank credit card number.
My bank didn’t pay a $690 charge on my card because it was used in the Netherlands. They cancelled my card and gave me a new one.
CHRISTIANE,
Here’s a story I named “The Three Stooges”.
One Saturday, about sixty years ago, three of us decided to enter a spear fishing contest’ at a large ‘swamp lake’ in Louisiana about two hundred miles from Fort Worth, Texas. We got our scuba gear, ‘spear guns’, and three tanks of air each. We went in my station wagon pulling a boat I’d made that’d go about 30 miles/hour. The front was covered with plywood and the steering wheel was behind that. We paid our entry fee and spent the night in the station wagon. (Shortest guy got the front seat.)
To identify the Stooges”, Rex is Moe, and the others are Larry and Curly. We decided the dam, 5 miles away, would have the largest fish. Outside the river channel was shallow and trees had rotted off even with the water.
Moe kept the ‘tricky’ motor running and Larry who was steering had left his glasses in the car. Larry hit a rotten tree that knocked a hole in the boat. Moe bailed water as fast as he could, but knew they were in trouble when the gas tank started floating. He yelled, “GO TO THE BANK”. They thought they saw land, but it turned out to be trees with low limbs. Curly had his mask and scuba tank on. A limb hit his tank and knocked him overboard. He grabbed the side and climbed back in with a wall of water. The boat became a seesaw; when the rear started under, they rushed to the front. When the front started under, they rushed to the rear. They did that until they sunk in ten feet of water.
Why they didn’t cut the motor off and keep it from being ruined, Moe will never know. They were wearing wet suits for the cold water. When they took their weight belts off, they floated like corks. Curly used his scuba gear to take the motor off and the plywood boat, covered with fiberglass, floated.
They started yelling, “Yoo-hoo”. It wasn’t long before that changed to “HELP”. After an hour, they saw a fisherman that was too far away to hear them. Moe swam a long way and just as he was going to yell, the guy left. Then another boat came up: “Have you heard someone calling for help?”
It took the ‘Good Samaritan’ three trips to get all they had to the bank that was a mile away. They were close enough to walk to Moe’s car. They came back and loaded everything except part of the steering wheel that broke off when Curly tried to lift the boat with the motor on.
Moe thought skipping church once would be OK. It’s strange at ten o’clock when they started yelling help was the time Moe was supposed to be teaching a Sunday School class.