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Will Smith Wins the Oscar for Battery
Why do famous people behaving badly think the rest of us want to watch?
By The Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal
A man who became rich and famous pretending to fight space aliens committed a real act of televised violence on Sunday night—and then Hollywood’s finest gave him a standing ovation barely half an hour later. Is it any wonder that much of America has lost all respect for self-referential Hollywood?
To catch up those who are blessedly unaware, the comedian Chris Rock was presenting at the Academy Awards and joked about Will Smith’s wife’s hair. She apparently has alopecia, medical hair loss, which Mr. Rock might or might not have known, but many viewers at home probably didn’t. In either case, it was a rude crack, though jokes come with the territory of being famous, and doubtless Mr. Smith has heard worse.
At first he was seen on camera laughing, but moments later Mr. Smith walked onstage and slapped Mr. Rock—hard, from the looks of it. Then he returned to his seat and shouted expletives. Mr. Rock, to his credit, carried on with the show. He reportedly has declined to file a police report. The L.A. Police Department said it was aware of an incident that “involved one individual slapping another.” Oh, where could they find 15 million witnesses?
As if that weren’t spectacle enough, Mr. Smith then was awarded the Oscar for best actor. In his speech he cast himself as a protector/victim and said he was “overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world.” He apologized to the film Academy, but not to Mr. Rock. “Love will make you do crazy things,” he added. Try that line sometime at the local police precinct and see how it works.
A couple of years ago the comedian Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globe awards and had the Hollywood crowd laughing nervously when he told them nobody cared what they think. This year’s Academy Awards showed why.
