It was shortly after the moment of silence that The Incident happened. Now, I am sure
there will be much commentary over the coming days
about why Smith slapped Rock and who was more in the wrong (answer: Smith). But as I was in the theatre when it happened, and not a million miles away from Rock, I would like to point out a few oddities about the whole thing.
1. It’s quite weird that Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith were fine with the host Regina Hall joking about their open marriage early in the evening, but not with Rock joking about Pinkett Smith’s hair, no?
2. To all the people saying Rock’s jokes were dickish, it’s a good thing you didn’t hear Schumer completely roasting everyone else in the room earlier in the evening, and none of them slugged her in the face.
3. No one in the auditorium knew at first whether this was all a joke or not, and nor, it seemed, did Smith. I watched his reaction to Rock’s joke and at first he laughed. Then he saw how annoyed his wife was, then he realised the whole audience saw that because the camera was on her, then he got angry and got up to slap Rock. However anyone wants to spin it, he went on quite an emotional journey.
4. When Smith then claimed in his, um, let’s just call it his acceptance speech that he had been “protecting” his family, just as he “protected Aunjanue” Ellis during the making of King Richard, Ellis did not look best pleased. And who could blame her?
5. Judging by Smith’s general demeanour, I would say Geoffrey the butler needs to give him a good talking to.