WASHINGTON — I didn’t watch the Oscars this past weekend. And it’s very likely you didn’t either. CNN Business reports last Sunday’s Oscars Awards — 2o22 Edition — broadcast on ABC wound up with “the lowest-rated telecast in the show’s history – by a sizable margin.” That’s an understatement. The 2022 Oscar Awards numbers plummeted considerably, off 58 percent over last year’s dismally low ratings. That means very few TV viewers had the opportunity to watch the evening’s most talked-about event live. As even hardened Oscar Awards haters know by now, that surprise happening unfolded when rapper/actor Will Smith smacked comedian Chris Rock across the chops for making a tasteless joke at his wife’s (Jada Pinkett Smith’s) expense.
But if no one is watching, do head-swiveling face spanks make a sound? Well, if nothing else, Chris Rock knows the mystical, ear-wringing sound of one hand clapping.
Comedian Chris Rock collects himself after being slapped by actor Will Smith. ABC screen capture.
The New York Times described the slap-down as a rare, “unscripted moment” in Hollywood.
As mentioned above, the slap was over a joke. One in which Chris Rock said,
“Jada, I love you. ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it, all right?”
Will Smith appears to enjoy a momentary laugh at his wife’s expense. ABC screen capture.
Jada Pinkett Smith, you see, suffers from alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss. The joke initially induced laughter from Will Smith. That is, until he saw the displeasure clearly written on his wife’s face. That’s when he rose to his feet, walked up to the stage, and gave the knight-in-shining-armor performance of his life. Smith went on to win the Oscar for Best Actor, but not for this particular, over-the-top performance.
I say performance because the Smith marriage is anything but blissful. Jada Pinkett Smith has admitted to having an extramarital “friendship” on her Facebook Watch program, “Red Table Talk.”
The smiths address their marriage on “Red Table Talk.” “Red Table Talk” screen capture.
According to Jada Pinkett Smith,
“I was in a lot of pain, and I was very broken. Now in the process of that relationship, I definitely realized that you can’t find happiness outside of yourself.”
Notice that husband Will did not factor even a little bit in her epiphany. After all, as she stated above, her happiness is all internal. That means keeping his marriage intact requires husband Will to constantly stoke the fire in the roaring furnace of wife Jada’s internal happiness.
According to “Psychology Today,”
“Women don’t need partners who invest all their energy in trying to prove how strong, manly, masculine, macho, or heroic they are. They just want men who are willing to meet them where they are and treat them fairly and equitably…”
Not so for Jada Pinkett Smith.
And so, last Sunday evening, Chris Rock’s head served as a gong. A gong whose loud reverberations herald the possible end to a troubled marriage, not to mention the irrelevance of the Oscars telecast.
Read more from Steve Lopez
About the Author:
Originally from Los Angeles, Steven M. Lopez has been in the news business for more than thirty years. He made his way around the country: Arizona, the Bay Area, and now resides in South Florida. Steven is a senior political staff writer for Communities Digital News and an incredibly talented artist, a cigar and bourbon aficionado.
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