What lessons from that slap?

DEBBIE JACOB

IT’S FUNNY where your mind will go when you are taken off guard and you’re trying to process a shocking moment like the one where actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock in the face at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles on March 27.

My mind went in many directions and landed on a memory I had years ago when I posed a question to a professor teaching a classical Greek archaeology class. We had been studying Greek sculptures and after viewing images of graphic sex scenes on carved panels above Greek bathhouses, I asked the professor, “When are we supposed to stop looking at this as art and start to question if this is pornography?”

The professor replied, “For years I have been waiting for someone to ask that question.”

It seemed clear to me that we could not accept everything we were seeing as art just because ancient Greeks created it. It took a hop, skip, leap and jump to connect that memory to that staggering scene at the Oscars.

Let’s not sugarcoat that horrific act of violence. Will Smith assaulted Christ Rock. Nothing can excuse that slap. The fact everyone felt it was so out of character for Smith doesn’t mitigate that act of violence. Smith’s profanity-driven verbal assault that followed qualified for bullying and forced censorship as well.

Even more shocking is that the audience passively accepted everything unfolding. No one ran to Chris Rock’s rescue. The audience then applauded and gave Smith a standing ovation for his Best Actor award after they witnessed him committing a crime. When we later learned that actors Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry approached Smith during a commercial break, I kept wondering why is all of the attention and sympathy on Smith who happily partied after the Academy Awards with his Oscar in his hand?

Rock’s insensitive joke brought attention to those who suffer from alopecia areata, the immune-deficiency hair-loss disease that caused Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith to shave her head, but Will Smith could have addressed the issue with words rather than a slap. Again, Rock’s insensitivity doesn’t excuse Smith’s behaviour.

That single act of impulsivity and violence has had so many repercussions. It sparked many discussions on anger, insensitivity, creativity and privilege.

All of this led me to remember that class I mentioned and the issue of Greek “art.” We need to discuss what constitutes creativity in humour. We have long accepted that ad hominem attacks are the lowest form of argument, yet we accept personal attacks as humour. Comedians need to dig deeper to make people laugh rather than resort to ridicule and insult. No one should feel humiliated or degraded for a cheap laugh.

Like the Greek art we examined in that classical archaeology class, we should realise that not everything a comedian says on stage constitutes humour. We need to critique humour as we critique literature and art and express what violates acceptable subject matter.

Those who suffer from alopecia areata have been vocal in their condemnation of Chris Rock’s joke, but there is a larger argument that needs to be expressed here, and I haven’t heard it yet.

Jokes about women’s hair are inappropriate. They’re not funny. Even if Pinkett Smith didn’t have alopecia, I don’t condone joking about her shaved head. We don’t poke fun at men with long hair or grey hair or any hairstyle men choose. We don’t joke about men who wear headbands or ponytails, yet we joke about or even shame girls for their hairstyles, and that’s as wrong as fat-shaming or body-shaming.

We need to express these views and hold comedians accountable to certain standards of art that can’t exploit personal or private subjects.

At the same time, nothing Rock said warrants any act of violence to stop him from saying it. Art requires constructive criticism for growth – not forced control. Our feedback should make artists, writers and comedians think and explore new levels of creativity. Self-censorship is appropriate in the name of art, but external intimidation, censorship and violence is unacceptable.

Thanks to Will Smith, no comedian will ever feel completely safe on stage again. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is right too. Smith’s slap supported racial stereotypes.

At the time I write this, Smith’s slap has received over 18 million views. Violent acts always draw attention. They also demand that we ask ourselves what lessons are there for us all to learn?