[champ]

There was prior history that could have fanned the flame. I read Rock took the piss out of Jada boycotting the Oscars in 2016 I think it was, whether Will was thinking of that at the time is another matter, still doesn't give him the right to resort to violence, egotistical prick.


When I woke up and seen all the news I thought it was planned, all the talk leading up was whether award shows are needed or wanted anymore and no one watches them then this happens... but when Will shouts at Rock you can see his self-righteous burning anger.

[QuickTidal]

As expected, the comedy industry is starting to rally around Rock and rebuff the notion that this was okay.

https://deadline.com...lap-1234989485/

[Primateus]

QuickTidal, on 29 March 2022 - 12:39 PM, said:

I think the problem with this is that it crossed a line that's never really been crossed. Smith didn't just slap Rock. He was a rich and famous actor who got up in front of a room full of his peers, and on live TV in front of millions and slapped a comedian for telling a joke.

This means he slapped Don Rickles. He slapped Dave Chapelle. He slapped Ricky Gervais. He slapped Richard Pryor. And really every other risky comedian. This normalized attacking a person doing their job because you didn't like the words they said while doing that job.

I don't have much of a stake in all this, meaning I don't much care. But I suppose I will take some kind of issue with this statement.

Anyone ever seen that quote about how people have gotten too comfortable spouting bullshit on the internet because they're safe from getting punched in the face?

A lot of comedians cross lines, jokes about stuff they probably really should not. And they excuse, ie. hide behind, it by claiming it's okay because it's their job.

[QuickTidal]

Primateus, on 29 March 2022 - 06:49 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 29 March 2022 - 12:39 PM, said:

I think the problem with this is that it crossed a line that's never really been crossed. Smith didn't just slap Rock. He was a rich and famous actor who got up in front of a room full of his peers, and on live TV in front of millions and slapped a comedian for telling a joke.

This means he slapped Don Rickles. He slapped Dave Chapelle. He slapped Ricky Gervais. He slapped Richard Pryor. And really every other risky comedian. This normalized attacking a person doing their job because you didn't like the words they said while doing that job.

I don't have much of a stake in all this, meaning I don't much care. But I suppose I will take some kind of issue with this statement.

Anyone ever seen that quote about how people have gotten too comfortable spouting bullshit on the internet because they're safe from getting punched in the face?

A lot of comedians cross lines, jokes about stuff they probably really should not. And they excuse, ie. hide behind, it by claiming it's okay because it's their job.

I mean, I get your issue here for sure...but then how do we officially define the "line" then? What you and I think is funny, and okay is maybe not the same for everyone and would be their line. So how do we officially define what's okay and what's not okay? I think we'd find that trying to make comedy "safe" for everyone is a bit of silly endeavour.

And unless we get rid of the job of "comedian" altogether, then it IS their job for better or for worse.

Like I personally don't like to go to comedy shows because I don't want to be sat in front and be open to the front row shenanigans I know go on there. I've been a victim of it, and I didn't care for it. So I consume my comedy on TV now mostly (I do have a comedian stand-up friend who makes me come out to shows, but I sit in back).

So I don't think the line is actually definable as a rule, but I'd be open to hearing a way that industry could define it that would please everyone.

[worry]

QuickTidal, on 29 March 2022 - 07:17 PM, said:

And unless we get rid of the job of "comedian" altogether

This event is inspiring good new ideas after all!

In other news, the Top Gun: Maverick full trailer was released...the movie is now scheduled for a July 2029 release date.

[Malankazooie]

Another point that isn't made is the sound. Professional wrestlers use the trick where they slap their exposed thigh (wearing tights allows this trick) to give that authentic slapped face sound. Roll back the footage of the Smith slap, it doesn't make that satisfying hand smacking face sound because you can't do the trick when you are dressed to the nines for an awards show.

Yet another reason why none of these contemporary posers can match Andy Kaufman. His smack makes an oh so satisfying hand on flesh sound, and then he puts the Kaufman stamp on it by tumbling out of his chair. He was a fucking genius. Chris Rock is funny, but Kaufman type humor is not his forte.

[QuickTidal]

worry, on 29 March 2022 - 10:54 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 29 March 2022 - 07:17 PM, said:

And unless we get rid of the job of "comedian" altogether

This event is inspiring good new ideas after all!

Well that is silly Worry.

Shall we get rid of all your beloved music artists too because their lyrics might upset people? My gods....where are we here in trying to somehow find ways to defend an indefensible act?

And you know what? I'm feeling froggy today, so let's dive into all the other conversations I've heard about this.

Spoilered for those that are sick of this conversation and don't care about it.

Spoiler

- This was not about Jada. This was about EGO. Will Smith's ego. Nothing else. This was a man using snap violence when he realized how Jada reacted to the "joke". She rolled her eyes.

- It was not even a joke. It was an off the cuff ad-lib...and it was not insulting. He said “Jada, I love ya. 'G.I. Jane 2,' can't wait to see it,”....Obvious Jingoism aside (a different convo) GI JANE is pretty solid movie about an empowered woman who becomes a badass marine Navy Seal, starring young Demi Moore with a military shaved head....so the ad-lib when broken down is literally, hey you have the same hair as Demi did in that movie where she was a badass navy seal, can't wait to see it. That is not offensive unless you misunderstand what GI JANE was....this is why Rock said "Wow, it was a GI JANE joke"....because he was dumbfounded how that was offensive.

- The assumption that Rock knew about her Alopecia is exactly that, an assumption. Just because she was open about it on her show, doesn't mean everyone knew....I had no clue she had that till the freak out the other night. Not everyone is going to know everything about you Jada...

- The fact that some people are praising Will for "defending his wife" with violence...shows how much the patriarchy still grips us all...and should be a clear indicator of how quickly Will could do something worse. In his book he defines one of the biggest events in his life was his father hit his mother across the face so hard she got a welt and a bloody mouth....and here he is behaving exactly like his father. The fact that he behaved like his father but it was aimed at another man, should matter not. That should trigger some HEAVY introspection on his part. It likely won't.

- Will's apology on Insta says he's a "work in progress".....you're 52 my guy. The notion of "violence isn't the answer" is what I teach to my kids, both under 6...if you've not learned that shit by 52, then that's not an excuse at all. It's who you are, and you just didn't like it coming out.

- Put The Rock up there hosting instead of Chris Rock and Will would not have tried it. Better yet, if Amy Schumer said it, he would have done nothing. But he saw a 57 year old smaller dude on stage and thought, yeah I can do this. That's a red flag.

- This was not about "protecting black women" as I've seen said. Jada was in no danger. Chris Rock has no power over Jada whatsoever. This was about protecting Will's Ego and Image and a beef between the Smiths and Chris Rock. The Smiths have made literal millions on exploiting their own personal lives, and other people are going to speak about it.

- The slap isn't even the biggest problem with the event. It's Will being able to not only go back to his seat, and collect his award to a standing ovation 30 minutes later, but also party into the night later like nothing had happened. That's a zero remorse stance. People have started to bring up prior incidents of white people making scenes and saying "What about this?!"....like John Wayne attempting to attack Native American woman Sacheen Littlefeather at the 1973 Oscars and being restrained by 6 security people. The difference? Aside from the obvious racism on Wayne's part....he was restrained from doing it. At the 2007 MTV Movie Awards red carpet Kid Rock punched Tommy Lee (over Pam Anderson I think?)...and he got cited with misdemeanour battery and removed. The difference should be clear. This incident was not stopped, and people actually comforted WILL after it and not Rock for being the one who was battered over an ad-lib. That's the biggest problem here. Will did this and there are no repercussions whatsoever, he was allowed to continue his night. I'm not asking for Rock to lay charges, I'm pointing out that the lack of ANY repercussions is a bad precedent.

- To the people who said sometimes at a bar someone needs a smack if they get out line....firstly no, that would never be my instinct....but moreover even if that was the case the police would have been called, and the instigator (and sometimes victim) get kicked out. Those repercussions, even if they are mild (like just getting kicked out) keep the prevalence of those situations in check.

- This was a mental health cry out moment to me. Will is lost somewhere amongst a lot of other things, and he needs help. This was just the thing that snapped him, and as inexcusable as I feel it is, I do hope he gets help. I also think he needs to leave Jada as she's 100% hung up on Tupac and will never love him like that, something he admitted on camera makes him intensely jealous. Their relationship seems very toxic from the outside, but what do I know?

- Jim Carrey pointed this out and it resonated with me: The people there who have been nominated for an award, potentially first time attendees, people in the industry that have worked really hard and run an absolute gauntlet to make something that goes on to be nominated, and then this clown within seconds takes that all away by making it all about him. How dare he? I could care less about the Oscars in general these days, but there's a whole room full of industry people who had their night that they worked super hard for (in some cases all their lives) yanked away by toxic masculinity and ego.

- This Oscars had:
First win by an openly out (at the time) LBGTQ+ woman.
First win by a deaf man.
First female back-to-back best Director wins.
First Best Picture win by a streaming service.
First Oscars broadcast with an entirely POC production team.

All of that air was stolen from the room by Will Smith.

- The Oscars, the Golden Globes, the Sag Awards, all the of above have for decades hired a comedian (or comedians) as hosts to tell jokes at the expense of the people in that room. It's not new. It's not unknown. You walk into the Oscars and sit in the front row...there have been jokes written about you and at your expense. I don't care who you are...that's what you are walking into when you attend one of these shows. If that's not for you, accept your award by proxy, or by Zoom. You're an actor. Thicken your skin, or don't attend.

- Will Smith is just as flawed as everyone else in the world, and especially in Hollywood. And holding him accountable for an inexcusable act is not only warranted and okay, it needs to be done to help tear down the power structures in the world that allow rich and famous people to get away with shit.

- Lastly, I hope Rock's next show or tour sells out. It should escape no ones notice that his current tour is actually called "Ego Death".

EDIT to add: I'm disappointed in Denzel Washington who said that the "Devil comes for you at your highest point" and not "Get some fucking self-control, you're a grown ass adult"....nah, it's gotta be the enemy of one of the various sky deities, right Denzel?

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 30 March 2022 - 04:13 PM

[worry]

It was just a joke, QT! Wait, no, what are you doing...stay back...I didn't mean it...calm down...please...I beg you...I beg youuuuu...No...No...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! *Never heard from again*

[Gorefest]

It's tough, but it had to be done. I call dibs on the contextual sarcasm angle.

[Macros]

Bruce Willis retiring due to Aphasia, possibly part of the reason he's been setting lines fed to him for a while in an ear peace?

[QuickTidal]

Macros, on 30 March 2022 - 09:26 PM, said:

Bruce Willis retiring due to Aphasia, possibly part of the reason he's been setting lines fed to him for a while in an ear peace?

Indeed. My wife works with people who have this and it does not occur alone, it’s usually coupled with a stroke or brain tumour or early dementia. It presents in some strange ways really mangles how you speak, or how your brain translates the thought to speech.

It’s awful.

I’m going to guess this is why he banged out a whole slew of seemingly schlocky straight to video movies in the last few years. Paychecks to retire.

[Malankazooie]

This is what a slap sounds like. Roll the Will Smith video back. Did it sound like this? I'll wait for your response.

[Aptorian]

Do you have any videos of what sound a steel beam makes when it melts?

[Macros]

Jet fuel doesn't do that Apt

[Malankazooie]

With all this Will Smith fake smack attention, I went on IMDB to see how many of his movies I have watched. I've only seen four of them.

- Independence Day (who hasn't seen this movie. It's only required viewing every 4th of July because 'murika!)
- Men in Black (another popular one that most people have seen)
- Bad Boys (awesome duo with Smith and Martin Lawrence. Lawrence was at the zenith of his powers then. The best Lawrence btw, waaaaay better then JLaw).
- Suicide Squad (to be honest, I don't remember much about this movie, it must have been meh).

I'm thinking of checking out Wild Wild West. Is it any good? I don't know anything about it. I thought about giving Seven Pounds a go, but I heard stories about that flick. It's supposed to be really heavy and you should have a box of tissues on hand while watching it. Not feeling that right now, so pass.

Also, I would like to make a weird recommendation for a Chris Rock movie. He was in a Saw movie (weird right?). The movie isn't all that good, but Rock's peformance is really really good. Like Oscar worthy good. It's called Spiral: From the Book of Saw. Check it out and lets discuss.

Also, that reminds me, I need to check out his season of Fargo.

[QuickTidal]

You know, recontextualizing some of the more recent stories (last decade or so) that Bruce Willis was a jerk or made weird comments or was hard to work with under the new knowledge that he's been suffering a cognitive decline that has become too big to ignore...really makes you think.

Like I can't think of many stories about him being a jerk or acting out in his early to mid-2000's career...but a fair number have come out since like 2010 (Kevin Smith, and Sly Stallone being the most prevalent ones I can think of). My wife says that many cognitive conditions subtly and insidiously affect behaviour and it starts out REALLY small in tiny little moments of "That's not how that person normally would act or say"...and progresses over the years to the full blown condition.

You never really know what's going on with someone man.

[polishgenius]

One can have whatever opinion of whether or not it's a big deal that Will Smith slapped Chris Rock or what the reasons behind it were (I tend to agree that there's probably more to it than just the joke and Will Smith prolly needs some help, but also I just don't care very much, it was just a slap, not a punch, whatever) but I really think that the 'they planned it' theory is taking the keenness to sse something just a step too far. It looks like it looks coz it's a shit slap thrown at a guy who didn't block coz he wasn't expecting it but is braced but bracing for it coz he did see it coming as he threw. It sounds like it sounds coz Chris Rock is wearing a mic on his lapel and what you heard was mostly that.

[Slow Ben]

@Mal. No, Wild Wild West is not very good. Its a decent popcorn flick, not much else.


Finally watched Dune and i really enjoyed it. Now somehow, ive never read Dune so i know nothing about the source material, but it seemed like this was one 2.5 hour setup for the next movie. Still enjoyed it though.


Caught Blade Runner 2049 also. Above average, not amazing, but i enjoyed it.

[Tsundoku]

At least it looks original.

[Aptorian]

Malankazooie, on 30 March 2022 - 01:38 AM, said:

Another point that isn't made is the sound. Professional wrestlers use the trick where they slap their exposed thigh (wearing tights allows this trick) to give that authentic slapped face sound. Roll back the footage of the Smith slap, it doesn't make that satisfying hand smacking face sound because you can't do the trick when you are dressed to the nines for an awards show.

Yet another reason why none of these contemporary posers can match Andy Kaufman. His smack makes an oh so satisfying hand on flesh sound, and then he puts the Kaufman stamp on it by tumbling out of his chair. He was a fucking genius. Chris Rock is funny, but Kaufman type humor is not his forte.

So, Will Smith has been excluded from The Oscars for ten years and Netflix and Sony have put his projects in hold.

https://www.google.c...da-61018821.amp

What's the next fase of the conspiracy behind this brilliant media stunt?