To the Editor
Will Smith displayed toxic masculinity in a shocking display at the Academy Awards. As bad as the assault on the comedian Chris Rock was, it wasn’t as disturbing as the immediate reaction to it.
He wasn’t immediately escorted by security out of the auditorium, he wasn’t booed out of the place and shunned. No, he was “comforted,” then not only allowed to give a speech excusing his violence, but even got a standing ovation. If that doesn’t speak to the systemic rot in Hollywood, nothing does.
Chris Rock was a master at maintaining his composure. Will Smith should have been detained. Instead, he was the one who required comforting after being attacked. His award should be canceled and Mr. Smith should be thrown out.
Shannon Deason
San Antonio
To the Editor
Re “In Defense of Thin Skin and Not Taking a Joke,” by Roxane Gay (Opinion guest essay, March 30):
Amen, Sister! Finally another point of view on the “slap watched ’round the world.”
It was not the slap that marred the Oscars; it was Chris Rock’s pathetic trolling for laughs in the pain of someone’s suffering.
Did I say “pathetic”? Perhaps unacceptable, over-the-top, tasteless, and just plain nasty is a better description.
Chris Rock didn’t deserve an apology. He deserved a slap. If anyone is apologizing for Chris Rock, it should be him.
Eugenia Askren
New York
To the Editor
I don’t chalk Will Smith’s slap to thin skin, as Roxane Gay did. It’s time for this nation to choose, yet again, between free speech and feelings, between fragility and uncompromising defense of debate and humor.
Let’s understand what happened: A presenter, hired by the Academy, was assaulted on stage for one of many tasteless jokes told that night. No security was present. Mr. Smith, who is a member of a wealthy elite, sat in peace for the rest of his night.
The attack highlighted the decades-long attacks on comedians as well as other practitioners of free speech. We’ve become an angry, censorious nation, creating an urgent need to come to a new understanding of free speech. That’s because some Americans seem eager to move past cancellation culture and straight on to violence.
The new reckoning will involve some pain and some hurt emotions. Start by being strong for speech and throwing Mr. Smith out the Academy.
Jim Stinson
Washington
To the Editor
I am a 62 year-old Black woman. I have dedicated a lot of my adult career to working with teens, primarily Black males, in an urban community. I have counselled, consoled and mentored them. They learned how to be successful. NotRespond in anger and violence. Responding in anger and violence increases their chances of being sent to prison, death or imprisonment.
Will Smith was wrong. There isn’t a gray area here.
It is obvious that we are moving away from dignity, respect, and honor. Our trailblazers in Hollywood, such as Sidney Poitier, would have been totally ashamed of Will Smith’s behavior. It is a slap in Mr. Poitier’s face.
Felisicia Williams
Chesapeake, Va.
To the Editor
Say I’m an old-fashioned feminist (I am), but Will Smith’s slap on Chris Rock’s face was well deserved.
You do not make fun of someone’s personal illness or infirmity in a private setting and certainly not in front of a public audience of millions.
That it was a man’s remark about a woman makes it even more despicable.
Joan Z. Shore
Paris
The writer is the founder and CEO of Women Overseas for Equality.
To the Editor
True feminists of a generation or so ago are shuddering at the idea that it’s cool for a man to stand up to and strike someone who made a lame joke about his wife.
True feminists know that the little woman can stand up for herself and doesn’t need her guy to do it for her.
Will Smith might as well have been wearing armor and wielding swords.
Anne Bernays
Cambridge, Mass.
To the Editor
You are responsible for the consequences of the jokes, comments, and attacks made by edgy comedians if you invite them to perform on your stage. Over the years, the Oscars have been captivated by the insult-laden acts of various comedians. What happened when Chris Rock went too far beneath the skin of Will Smith was not surprising.
This is where the Oscar producers need to admit some guilt.
Thomas B. Woodward
Santa Fe, N.M.
To the Editor
Re “Another Williams Triumph Tempered,” by Christopher Clarey (On Tennis column, March 29):
The Williams sisters’ time in the limelight wasn’t the only moment that Will Smith stole at the Academy Awards. Consider how overjoyed the deaf community must have felt with the selection of “CODA” as best picture. This is what few people are talking to.
Mr. Clarey wrote, “But then, as so often happens with the Williamses, things got complicated — and, through no fault of the sisters, an evening that should have affirmed their against-great-odds rise to stardom instead became about Smith slapping the comedian Chris Rock onstage.”
He could just as easily have said the same of the deaf community: “an evening that should have affirmed their against-great-odds rise to stardom instead became about Smith.”
Mike Debraggio
Clinton, N.Y.
To the Editor
It could have been much more effective to leave it at a sharp tongue-lashing. But that slap came at a celebration of the film industry, which has spent more than a century promoting the fantasy that a good man defends his woman’s honor with redemptive violence. Of course Will Smith got a standing ovation; we’ve seen this scene many times before.
Brent Kigner
Kufstein, Austria
Source: NY Times